


Allurement

by impure-kink (SugarBubbles2000)



Series: Allurement [1]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Accidental wetting, Aftercare, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Bladder Training, Bonfires, Bottle omorashi, Boyfriends, Boys In Love, Car Desperation, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Crushes, Cute Ending, Demisexuality, Desperation, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Embarrassment, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Fanart, Feelings Realization, Festivals, Fireworks, First Dates, First Kiss, Formalwear, Friendship/Love, Grief/Mourning, Holding Hands, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Ice Cream, Love Confessions, M/M, Makeup, Male Desperation, Medical Conditions, Motorways, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, Neck Kissing, Omorashi, Past Character Death, Poor Rin, Relationship Discussions, Rin is a dork, Rin needs a hug, Second Kiss, Slow Romance, Stress incontinence, Swearing, Trapped In A Closet, Wetting, love advice, overactive bladder, religious discussions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-11-17 10:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 48,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11273937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarBubbles2000/pseuds/impure-kink
Summary: They kept silent for a few moments as it slowly dawned upon them that they were going to be stuck there for at least a while.Rin and Suguro. Together. In a cramped space. The two sworn enemies of the Exorcist cram school first years.It also just so happened that, with every encounter they had, these two were nothing short of being at each other's throats. Even in the middle of class, they still performed a spectacular show of derogatory, belittling insults and retorts fired at each other for the rest of the class to onlook like a ping-pong match.With minimal space in between them, it was more inevitable than ever that it would soon turn into a warzone. Rin would have fully intended to take his side in this 'oncoming battle', if he wasn't so settled on another predicament he had since the mission started.“... I need to piss as well...” Rin shifted his gaze around, his face flushing.On hearing that, Suguro simply glared back at Rin with disgusted and appalled disbelief.Seriously? Can this guy getany moreirritating?





	1. Cupboard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to my first ever fanfiction I have fully written! If you weren't discouraged from the tags then I assume you're okay with some of the content that will be displayed here.  
> I'm gonna come straight off and say that there will be several omorashi scenes scattered through this fic. (Omorashi is concerned with the 'fetish' of full bladders, pee desperation and/or wetting oneself). If you're uncomfortable with omo, then this might not be for you. I understand that omo can be taboo at times even in the fetish/kink community.  
> I'd say my omo scenes are tame - they're not sexual - but one can't be too careful so here's my warning.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Keep it down! They might hear us!” Suguro hissed at Rin, sitting beside him.

Loud screeches of the demons lingering around could be heard. They were a little _too_ high-classed for the two Pages to handle, with Suguro’s chants nor Rin’s bashing of the demons with the Kurikara scabbard having little effect. Suguro had resorted to plan B and, grabbing Rin, escaped into the temporary safety of one of the book cupboards in the back of the classroom, slamming the small doors behind him.

Suguro peered out to the scene through the slither in between the doors, just about managing to see the two forms wondering around fruitlessly, hunting for the two teens. Both his hands were placed against the door flat and firmly, focusing on their every move.

Save for their minor nose breathing, they both kept quiet, listening. After what seemed like an age, the demons’ noises began to grow faint, indicating that they had given up their search and had ventured out to target their next victims.

“Okay, seems like the coast is clear.” said Suguro, after scanning the room. He sat upright from his previous leaning after confirmation that they had disappeared.

“Let’s get out of-” he started, applying pressure onto the doors to let them out.

The doors would not budge.

He gave them another push, with more force this time. Still, no response. He let out an irritated grunt before slamming his shoulder into the right side.

“Come the fuck on!!” he yelled, driving his fist into the polished wood in irritation. The doors rattled from the force, still not opening. He let it linger there for a few seconds before flattening his hand out, sliding it down the length.

“Oh, great going, you got us locked up in here, _asshole_.” Rin snarled.

“Piss off! It’s not my damn fault! And I don’t see you helpin’!” Suguro snapped back.

Rin looked away for a brief moment before lifting his arms up, ready to whack his hands. For the next minute or so, a series of thumping of limbs came in a futile attempt to break whatever lock had been on the outside. They stopped, catching their breath.

“...What now?” Rin muttered, in between breaths.

“Do you have your phone on you? Call someone!”

Rin whipped out his phone from his pocket. His face dropped as the screen lit up and illuminated his face.

“...There’s no signal here...”

Suguro took his own device, only to find the same result.

“Where’s that walkie talkie thing?”

 _Ah... shit._ “...Out there...” he pointed a finger dejectedly.

“...Fuck, man...”

They kept silent for a few moments as it slowly dawned upon them that they were going to be stuck there for at least a while.

Rin. And Suguro. Together. In a cramped space. The two sworn enemies of the Exorcist cram school first years.

It also just so happened that, with every encounter they had, these two were nothing short of being at each other's throats. Even in the middle of class, they still performed a spectacular show of derogatory, belittling insults and retorts fired at each other for the rest of the class to onlook like a ping-pong match.

With minimal space in between them, it was more inevitable than ever that it would soon turn into a warzone.

Rin would have fully intended to take his side in the oncoming battle, if he wasn't so settled on another predicament he had since the mission started.

“... I need to piss as well...” Rin shifted his gaze around, his face flushing.

On hearing that, Suguro simply glared back at Rin with disgusted and appalled disbelief. _Seriously?_ Can this guy get _any more_ irritating?He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and finger.

“...Well, go and take a nap somewhere.”

“What?”

“To distract yourself or somethin'.”

That didn’t sound like a bad idea. Rin moved himself to the other side of the cupboard, keeping himself as far as he can from him as possible. They weren’t exactly close, more rivalry than anything else, and the thought of being near him this whole time was not a desirable one. He moved some books aside and around, forming a reasonably comfortable platform for him to get some rest.

Plus, it would allow Rin an excuse out of awkward conversations and silences.

 _It’ll be okay.._ He thought to himself. _I can just hold out until we get saved._ With this in mind, he willed himself to fall asleep to pass the time. 10 minutes of shifting around to get comfy, and he eventually drifted off.

 

* * *

 

He only managed to fall asleep for about 45 minutes. He woke up to the awfully familiar heaviness sitting in his abdomen. He stirred, rubbing his eyes in a sub-conscious manner. He realised that he probably shouldn’t be rubbing his drowsiness away but it was too late- and uncomfortable- to fall back asleep anyway.

Across him, Suguro was seen shifting himself towards the door for what must have been at least the millionth time. He knocked loudly, followed by a “Hey, is anyone there? Can you help us?”. He noticed Rin sitting up, looking in his direction.

“Oh. You’re up.”

“Mm.. Any luck?”

“Nothing yet..” Suguro paused momentarily. “Good nap?”

“Kinda...” That was true, in the sense that time had passed and diverted his attention away. But that was, unfortunately, only temporary, what with the inward pressure building up. He tried his best to shake the feeling off.

Suguro fell back to his former position; his back pressed against the wooden wall and his knees drawn up slightly. He picked up the opened book which, Rin assumed, he was currently reading. He shone his phone light to the pages so the words were visible. Suguro turned his concentration to the double page spread, falling back deep into the literature world, one Rin could never do.

_...Nerd._

They both sat in comfortable silence. Rin propped himself against the wall in a similar fashion to Suguro. He allowed his mind to wander around, dwelling on anything that came to mind, He subconsciously shifted around, crossing his thighs over each other, the small scuffle of fabric as they rubbed against the surfaces. The noises weren’t loud but even in Suguro’s concentration, was distracting. After enduring it for a few minutes, he let out a sigh and glanced up from his book.

“Oi. Read somethin'.” He picked up a pile of books he had finished reading and chucked it at Rin. “Some are things we’re learnin' in class. It’s a good opportunity to stop slackin’ and get to know what you’re gonna be studyin’. Also, readin' around the subjects is always a good idea.”

Rin grimaced. He did _not_ enjoy reading lengthy thick textbooks and had always found it better to learn practically out in the field. Like missions, for instance. Those were perfect. But since there was not much else to do in this small space, he figured he might as well.

“I’m not slacking off..” he murmured defensively, picking up one of the sprawled out books. With neither having the strength to argue, the fell back into silence and began to read.

 

* * *

 

“Fuck this!!”

Rin snapped his book shut and hurled it in the space in front of him. It was only 15 minutes and he had already given up reading. Was that even surprising?

Throwing the book away revealed one of his hands clutching onto the polyester fabric above his genitalia. His other hand slammed on top of the other, and pressed into himself. A series of questionable moans escaped him in succession.

Suguro watched him blank-faced.

“Come over here.”

Rin lifted his head up to see Suguro's hand gesturing to him. He had no clue as to why he agreed but he did. He crawled over to Suguro’s side and sat beside him in anticipation." Okay? Now what?"

Rin could feel fingers feel around his arm in the dark until they reached his shoulders. They gripped either side firmly, forcing Rin to face in Suguro's direction.

"Face me."

"Yeah?"

Suguro's thumbs padding at his shoulders began to roll around in small, circular motions, gently stroking at the jacket fabric. His whole palm soon followed suite, an almost massage-like nature to it.

 _What..?_ This was  _definitely_ not something Rin imagined someone by the looks of _Suguro_ would do. He doubted Suguro would go near him, let alone touch him. Yet here they were, cooped together for - goodness knows how long - and doing whatever this was. That if which was uncalled for... though not entirely unwelcoming.

"What are you doing?"

“J-just tryna calm you down.” he justified.

Rin blinked, staring down at his lap. His firm but warm touch was quite comforting, if he was honest. Rin felt himself losing his unknowing stiffness as he grew into the touch.

“Concentrate on holding it...”

The half-demon did as he was told. He gave himself a small squeeze and huffed out a breath. As per Suguro’s instructions, he tried his best to regulate his breathing into long, deep ones. Panicking, as he knew very well, would only worsen the situation.

Every few minutes or so, Suguro would let go of Rin’s hand, knock on the door. When no response entailed, he would turn back to Rin and fall back into position. He picked up his book and continued from where he had left off.

Patience is virtue, as they say, but it was becoming apparent that one of the two was beginning to lose that quite soon.

“Just how long are we going to sit here in this hellhole an’..” Rin blurted out, breaking the silence.

“.. till someone comes nearby who could maybe rescue us-”

“ Well at this rate, nobody’s gonna fucking come!” he snapped. Suguro glanced at Rin as his tone changed. Though it was hard to see, Rin’s face grew violently red, a few sweat drops running down his face. He grit his teeth.

“Move over!!” Rin yanked himself off Suguro’s hold and approached the door. He slammed his foot into the door over and over.

“SOMEONE!! GET YOUR DAMN ASS OVER HERE AND HELP ME-- US!” he yelled, quickly correcting.

He screamed. “COME THE FUCK-! ”

His mouth met Suguro’s warm hand, clamping it shut. "Shh!" he interjected, his other hand on Rin’s shoulder. He drew his lips closer to Rin's pointed ear. “I heard something..”

 

* * *

 

The door to the classroom creaked open. Shiemi walked in, slowly, peering her head around for any signs of her two lost classmates. She and the rest of the class had been sent on a search party to find the remaining two that had to yet return to the meeting point, despite the mission being well over and completed.

_This was the classroom they were sent to..._

_What happened in here?_

Tables and chairs had been flipped and sprawled around the perimeter of the classroom. The blonde-haired Page walked to the centre, looking at the array until a soft clank of plastic was heard under her foot. She looked down to see a tattered walkie-talkie nestled. She knelt down to the ground to pick it up.

“This... this is theirs...” she vocally commented, identifying the blue sticker on the antenna. _So they must be nearby.. But where?_

Her question was to be answered shortly.

“That- that sounds like Shiemi!!”

Suguro looked into the small gap.

“It’s Moriyama!”

“Haha, praise the lord!! SHIEMI!!” he shouted, banging on the door.

The loud noise startled the blond timid girl. She leapt back, a shreik escaping her throat.

_That voice…_

“Eh?! _Rin_ ?!” She couldn’t exactly hear very well but the muffled voice definitely _sounded_ like him. She scanned across the side of the classroom for his location.

“Moriyama! Here!! You gotta help us!!”

“Suguro?!?” she crawled towards the source of their voices. It was coming from the cupboard splattered with the weird... what _was_ that?

“You two are in here?!?” Shiemi asked, her hands finding the handles and pulling with all her might.

“What’s she saying?”

“Dunno... Moriyama! Find help!”

“Oh! I’ll call Yuki!!” Shiemi grabbed her talkie and pressed it to her mouth.

“Yuki!! I’ve found Rin and Suguro! O-over!”

“Shiemi! You have? Where?! Over.” Yukio responded after a few seconds.

“Here in our classroom! But they’re stuck in one of the cupboards! Over.”

“Okay, stay right there. I’ll be right over! Bringing the staff along! Over and out.”

“She’s getting help.. Thank goodness..”

“What a gem she is.. I swear, I’m gonna smother her with kisses the second we get out..”

“Alright, I know you like her ‘n all but she’s not your girlfriend!” Suguro remarked. “We’ll be out soon, thankfully. In the mean while, you just hold it till then..”

A series of running footsteps could be heard a minute later. A few voices, predominantly Yukio’s, came after.

“Rin and Suguro, give us two minutes! We just need to break this and you’re free..”

_What was that? Something about two minutes.._

A continuous tapping noise came from the exterior, presumably one of the staff breaking the lock. Suguro kept his eyes looked on the door, waiting for the moment it swung open.

At this point, there was no point even trying to keep still. He writhed next to Suguro, the heel of his boots digging forcefully into him as well as his hand that were now permanently fixated on his front. His movements became more erratic as his bladder that felt so overfilled begged for its contents to be released.

_I don’t think I can last two minutes longer._

“Suguro, ah- _f-fuck.."_ Rin whined, cursing as a few drops trickled over his fingers, dampening a patch on his trousers. His tail, hidden under his shirt, slithered into his pants and wrapped around his shaft in a final attempt.

“Not long now, Okumura, y-”

“I-... I can’t hold it any longer!"

 _Shit!_ “N-no! Okumura! Just for a minute, hold it!” he pleaded, turning to face Rin.

“I’m serious! I can’t- I’m literally about to-” Rin’s squeaked, lifting his head up. He began to inch away from Suguro, bracing himself. He only managed to make it a few centimetres away when he froze.

Suguro could not see Rin but he definitely heard the recognisable _hiss_ that filled the silence between them for the next couple of seconds.

Rin could feel the warm liquid jetting out of him, almost forcibly, and streaming down both inner sides of his school trousers. It spread unknowingly out and around him, down the sides of the old textbooks and onto the actual hidden floor of the  _godforsaken_ cupboard. The colour in his white-knuckled hand in Suguro’s returned as his grip relaxed. His body sank as he let out a long, ragged _haaah_ , his entire body practically collapsing to the release of what felt like hours of internal pressure. For only a few seconds, he fell prey to that sweet feeling of relief.

The warmth evaporated out and his thighs quickly became cold as the fabric stuck to his skin.

_Well, shit._

Neither of them moved, even after the noise subsided. All the while, Suguro stared at Rin's dark form with wide-open eyes, his face heating up.

“...fuck. You did it.” he almost whispered.

Though not on his priority, Rin couldn't be more _glad_ that they were in almost darkness otherwise Suguro would have caught sight of his face blanching at the shock before flaring probably the brightest of reds possible on a person's face.

Rin backed himself to the very corner of the cupboard. He drew his knees right up to his face. His hands clutched his damp pant fabric that sat above his knees, trembling.

He had no idea how to handle his complete embarrassment but to get as far away from... everything, seemed plausible. His underwear, trousers, socks, boots, tail - and oh god  _the books underneath him-_ were completely soaked and sodden with his embarrassment.

He buried his burning face into his hands when hearing the doors creak and swing open, obstructing his view. Suguro drew his attention away from the quaking Rin and to the figures shadowing at the opening.

They were finally rescued. No amount of energy could bring him to feel glad, not after what just unravelled.

“Are you okay, Suguro?” Yukio initiated, extending his hand to him, his brows furrowed in worry.

“Yeah...” He accepted the gesture, gripping onto Yukio and being pulled out gently. Rin did not stir from his position. _But maybe he isn't._ Suguro looked back at Rin, debating on what he should do. Without much thought, he took off his black school blazer and hurled it in Rin’s direction.

“Here you go.”

Rin slightly lifted his head upwards, feeling the clothing weigh over his head. He pulled it down, looking at it for a few moments before acknowledging what he meant. He wrapped the warm blazer around his waist, tying the arm pieces at his front. Black trousers worked at an advantage but it wouldn't be _completely_ discreet that they weren't dry.

Suguro pulled Rin out, taking a brief look at his state. His hair has been strewn everywhere, his face damp with sweat and his cheeks a little red but not too red. He supposed it can just pass off as heat. The shorter Page kept his eyes on the floor, kicking with his foot. Subconsciously, he cowered behind Suguro, as if he needed some sort of protection.

“Whoo, sorry about that, boys -  _god,_ that is a stench, Jesus. There was some sort of substance that had completely hardened over the doors.”

“The- _what_?” Suguro choked.

“Yep, there was something splattered all over. That’s why you two couldn’t get out.”

“The resin-like substance from the demon.” Yukio corrected.

 _Wait, so it_ _wasn't _ _a lock?!_

“I apologise greatly that we didn’t come earlier. We really ought to have checked here first.”

“T-that’s fine...” Suguro rubbed his neck.

“Anyway, let's get moving. Everyone’s at the meeting point. I need to debrief you all.” Yukio eyed Suguro and the oddly-silent Rin before making a start to the classroom door.

 _Before that.._ “Uh, teach...?” Suguro glanced back at Rin. “...May Okumura and I can be excused for a few minutes?”

“...Yes, that’s fine. Just meet us up immediately after.”

Suguro grabbed Rin’s arm and tugged him away. As he passed Yukio, he heard him lower his voice.

“...Is Rin okay? He’s awfully quiet.”

“He’ll be okay in a minute.” was all Suguro replied, not stopping to look back at him. The both of them were out of sight within seconds.

"We'll stop at your dorm. We need to get you cleaned up. Your dorm's in the old dormhouse right?" Suguro explained, and received a small mumble as an acknowledgement to his question.

Suguro led Rin to his dorm house, holding onto his arm with a firm grip the whole time. In silence they walked up the old steps to the room that Rin and Yukio shared. Once they got there, Rin made his way to his wardrobe, slipping into his spare black trousers to keep things as unsuspicious as he could. He threw his damp pair into the laundry basket on their way out.

 _I’ll sort that out later._ They walked side by side, a comfortable distance between them.

"Did it really reek?"

"What did?"

"Don't bullshit me! I heard the dude's comment." He spat.

"...I don't know, to be honest. I didn't notice any niffs." _And it's not like I would, anyway, it wouldn't be pleasant. Plus, that's just added embarrassment._ "He was probably overreacting. So _chill_ , okay? It's over. Nobody's gonna know."

They didn't speak up again until they met with the others.

Even though the evidence has been removed, he still felt embarrassed and slightly awkward after the incident. Suguro’s lack of a horrific reaction reassured him a little, if not a lot. Knowing the guy for a few weeks, he would have expected a much greater reaction, Instead, his expression rode little disgust and was more neutral in nature, maybe one of understanding. If anything, he was very willingly helping him and not making a huge deal out of it.

That’s what he really needed.

_Perhaps he was a decent guy after all…_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's the first chapter completed! Thanks so much for reading~
> 
> Updates will be every Tuesday for the next 12 weeks. I'm really, really hoping I can stick to this schedule! I may post earlier if I am unavailable on update day. Subscribe to the series and you'll get a shiny new notification of when I update! Have a good day you lovely fanfic readers <3


	2. Motorway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Keep looking for a more convincing argument or take a nap to pass the time."
> 
>  _Well, this isn't working. And I'm officially spent of ideas._ Rin raked his fingers through his hair, a few strands already damp.
> 
> Summing up the courage and collecting the words that sat on his tongue, he faced the inevitable.
> 
> Rin swallowed forcefully. _It's not that hard, just say it!_ "It's just cause I... I really need to take a piss."
> 
> An inaudible mutter came from Shura. She rolled onto her side to fall back asleep.
> 
> He tapped his feet onto the car mat, his toes curling inside his boots. "..Please. I'm desperate. I'll be really quick! You wouldn't want me to have an accident all over the car-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thanks so much to those of you who left kudos and commented on the last chapter. I'll be honest, I wasn't feeling the most confident when posting this but you guys really pumped reassurance that I was doing a good job! You guys are awesome! <3  
> Secondly, it is Shima's birthday today so hbd you pink goof~  
> Enjoy! (This chapter is a bit odd so forgive me for the weird ideas I explore).

"How long until we get back? Man, I feel like we've been in here for _years_!" Shima groused.

Seated in a taxi were Shima, Suguro and Rin, along with Shura in the passenger seat at the front with the driver. They were sent out on a mission a number of hours away from True Cross Academy.

"Oi! Quit yer complainin'!" Shura snapped, opening her eyes and turning round to the back. "I'm sorry about them, driver, they're a nuisance. How long will it be?" She sweet talked.

"Well, I would have liked to have said around 10 minutes, but as you can see..." The low-voiced driver nodded to the now visible traffic in front of their vehicle. "I think we're stuck here for a while. Sorry fellas."

"Wait is there-?" Shima stuck his head out and caught sight onto the extended row of lined up cars. "AWH MAN!" He slumped back onto the back of his seat, leaning his head against the head restraint.

"Fuck's sake, Shima, it's not his fault!" Suguro reproached, upon hearing a groan from the pink-headed Page. Next to Suguro, Rin, who had been staring at the fields out of the window and basking in his self-induced world, snapped out of his trance when hearing a few selective words. His ears pricked and he glanced over to his friends beside him. He turned back to the window once they fell to silence.

_Come on... Distract yourself…_

He released his clasp onto the fabric over his legs and as discreetly as he could, he slid his palms along the inner of his thighs to as far as what wouldn't raise any questioning stares - had anyone bothered to look - and rested them there. Part of him wished he would say screw it and fall into the urge to blatantly grab himself. He closed the gap in between his legs and wriggled forward on his seat, some friction to provide his crotch some relief. The small sound of his exhaling through his nose wasn't unnoticed by Suguro and he looked over at Rin's lip-biting and subtle strained expression. 

To Rin's misfortune, his predicament was already recognised.

Some weight could be felt on Rin's lap Suguro's phone had been placed there. He also realised he'd began to hunch forward and so promptly corrected his position and picked up the phone.

 _'Do you need the bathroom?'_ was the question displayed in a new note.

 _So much for being discreet,_ Rin mentally kicked himself. He might as well tell someone, right?

 _'Yeah badly',_ he quickly typed out and pressed the phone into Suguro's open hand.

The next response was swift. ' _Don't worry. Do your best at holding it. I'm sure we'll be back soon so you can go.'_

Rin looked back at Suguro and after seeing his neutral yet reassuring look, he broke eye contact, cheeks flushing.

_'I hope you're right'_

 

* * *

 

And so, for the next twenty minutes, Rin did try his very best at holding it.

A series of _It's not that bad_ and _I_ _can hold it!_ were repeated in cycles in Rin's mind like a mantra. Yes, while he felt he was continuing to fill, he reckoned that him sitting still in the car wasn't helping all that much. To alleviate some of the growing pressure, he shifted on the seat every now and then. When it began to build up, he'd cross his legs as casually as he could. Once it subsided, he'd cross at the ankles.

His insides were growing with urgency so he shifted his hips, again, while pulling up his trouser waistband. Unfortunately, his belt clanked while he moved and the noise caught the attention of the the other three in the back. Rin froze, looking away from everyone and clasped his knees instead.

He could feel Suguro still casting him a look. He motioned for Suguro to pass him his phone, his fingers barely able to type coherently.

 _'I really_ _have to go!!'_

Suguro just shrugged his shoulders while snatching it back. 

_'What do you expect me to do about it, summon you a toilet?! Don't you have a container?'_

He didn't, he already knew that. Earlier, Rin had rummaged around in his bag for something, _anything_ to go in but all he had was useless school books. Even if he did find a bottle, he couldn't possibly imagine using that, not when there were  _four_ other people in the car.

He desperately scoured the car floor and around his seat before resting his eyes on the seat in front of him. 

"Hey, Shura? Can we go 'n get some fresh air outside?" Rin spoke up, cringing at the croaky nature.

 "Oh, fucking _yes please! _I'm bored as hell here!" Shima chirped, sitting upright.

 Shura's eyes remained shut. "I can't permit that. I've been told to keep a close eye on you guys and to not letting you outta my sight. I trust you are all responsible but I'll be in trouble if anything happened."

 Rin's face immediately dropped. "B-but, it's reaaally stuffy in here, right? We might get a stroke!"

 "Are you serious? It's not hot. And we have the AC blasting in here, if you haven't noticed." Shura replied.

 "Yeah, but..." Rin trailed, searching for another excuse. "Oh! It's unhealthy and bad on the body to be sitting in one spot for too long! Science, you know." He pointed a finger up, all matter-of-factly.

Shura couldn't honestly give a damn about school or education, despite going through bot too long ago. "Well yes, _science_ as it may well be, the answer's still no. Keep looking for a more convincing argument or take a nap to pass the time."

 _Well, this isn't working._ _And I'm officially spent of ideas._ Rin raked his fingers through his hair, a few strands already damp. 

He dug his fingers into his thigh.  _Dammit, w_ _hy am I so awkward about this?_ _At any other time, I would have just said what I needed to do easily, so what's wrong with me? It probably was because of what had happened the other time_ _\- wait, no, don't think about that, forget it happened!_   He felt his cheeks heat up at the memory. It seemed his brain kept fixated around that one most humiliating experience of his life.

The fact that, of all people, it was goddamn  _Suguro_ there in that dinky, wretched cupboard to witness him wet himself, really did not sweeten the situation. Hell, that guy could have made things so much worse. They treated each other terribly in class, who's to say he wouldn't let him live it down? Looking back now, he'd half expected him to scoff, laugh, mock at how childish and weak he was for not being able to hold his bladder.

..But he didn't. He did none of that.

Maybe he ought to give Suguro more credit. For now, it was a priority to prevent a repeat of that humiliation, which felt more and more likely to happen at this rate.

Summing up the courage and collecting the words that sat on his tongue, he faced the inevitable.

Rin swallowed forcefully. _It's not that hard, just say it!_ "It's just cause I... I really need to take a piss."

 An inaudible mutter came from Shura. She rolled onto her side to fall back asleep.

 He tapped his feet onto the car mat, his toes curling inside his boots. "..Please. I'm desperate. I'll be really quick. You wouldn't want me to have an accident all over the car-"

 "Okay, fine, point made. Make it quick."

 "Thank-you!" Rin briskly answered, jumping out of the car and dashing along the road. He made sure to leave enough distance from the cab so that it was practically out of sight. Odd as it may be, he'd rather random strangers caught him in the act than the people he knew. He made his way to the grassy mini-hill that ran across either side of the motorway.

He placed one foot on the hill and attempted to walk up it. He only made a few feet upwards before slipping down.

“Fuck!” he yelled, after trying a few more times. _This was getting nowhere._ He shoved his hands into his pocket in frustration, looking around.

An idea formed in his head, and he scurried back to the cab. He swung the door open, only about 45 seconds after he had left it.

“I know I said ‘Be quick’ but that was-”

“No, I’m not done…” Rin said, looking to Suguro. “Suguro, I need your help.”

“Whatever would you need _Bon’s_ help with..?”

Rin kept his eyes locked on Suguro, ignoring Shima. “...please?”

“...Okay?” was all Suguro said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, though it looked as if he wanted to question more. He clambered out of the taxi, Rin tugging on his sleeve urgently and leading him back to where he previously was.

“I need you to help me up there. My boots are a little slippery... Something like that.”

“Sure.” He said, with a little uncertainty.

With one arm linked around each other’s backs, they trudged up the hill. Suguro’s general increased mass meant that he had more balance, albeit it being a little more difficult seeming as Rin virtually clung onto him. Inadvertently, Rin had made the right choice calling him over.

They rested one hand against the trees when reaching the top, momentarily resting their legs from the gravity strain. While Suguro was busy, Rin took the opportunity and gave the area between his legs a much needed squeeze.

He ripped his hand away once he noticed Suguro begin to stare.  For a good ten seconds, neither knew what to do except blankly stare at each other. Subconsciously, Rin's body moved on its own accord; he hopped from foot to foot, backwards and forwards.

"Okay, I can't hold it any longer." He abruptly turned on his heel, thighs close together and awkwardly hobbled to the next tree in front of him. His belt had been unbuckled and his hands were ready to pull his trousers right down when he caught Suguro  _still_ looking in his direction.

"Don't look, you weirdo!" Rin hissed.

Suguro rolled his eyes but complied, turning to allow the guy some privacy. "You're the weird one here, asking me to come here while you take a piss!"

Rin grunted. "Just shut up, will you? Damn." He checked that Suguro was indeed not looking anymore and then yanked his trousers and underwear down to just below his knees.

Then came the more embarrassing part. The squatting.

If there was one thing hurting his pride, it was him succumbing to doing _this_. He drilled his eyes into Suguro's back, making absolute sure he _did not_ see him in such a vulnerable, pathetic and laughable position. 

With his junk inches off the ground, he would have just let go, if not for the silence that was awfully unbearable at the moment.

Rin knew his pee was going to hit the ground  _loud,_ and couldn't imagine the next minute of them both having to hear the hissing.

"Hey! Could you sing one of your sutras or something? This silence is horrible!"

"One moment you tell me to shut up, another moment you tell me to recite a sutra. First off, we  _recite_ them, not sing! Get it right!"

"Okay, look, I really don't care right now-"

It clicked in Suguro's mind that Rin's voice seemed to be coming lower down than usual.

"Wait, are you...  _crouchin'?!"_

"Yeah, so what?"

"Why don't you just stand up and do it?"

That was it. He couldn't, he just couldn't. "I, er... I can't."

"What do you mean you 'can't'?"

"I mean I can't! Argh, I'll spit it out: I can't aim my piss very well. As in, not at all. It-It goes everywhere everything I try!" Rin avowed, cheeks flaring up at the fact that he was actually admitting this.

 And trust Rin when he said that; he honestly  _did_ try. Years after being toilet trained and he, a fifteen years old, still was unable to control the flow from his genitals properly. 

This injured his pride far more than he'd let in on.

“What the actual _fuck?!?!_ How can you _not_ know how to aim?!”

“I- Look! I just can’t, okay? Can you just quickly recite something please?! And make it quick!" The longer he kept squatting, the more Rin's bladder muscles throbbed with the want to give way. Unbeknownst to Suguro, Rin was now bouncing at his ankles and gripping his member in a desperate attempt at clamping his urethra shut until Suguro stopped talking and did what he was asked to do.

"Fine!!" Suguro racked his brain for any of the familiar words he had been learning recently.

As soon as he began reciting, Rin exhaled a quavering breath, removed the grip on himself and finally released. The liquid splashed and flowed along the grass downhill and away from him.

As he voided onto the grass, he shut his eyes and relaxed most of his weight onto his feet. His fingers were fan-shaped with his fingertips pressed onto the ground to steady his body. He tried his best at stifling a relieved sigh, yet to little success. 

He waited until only dribbles were left, an indication he was fully emptied. Shaking his member to remove the final drops hanging there, he announced to Suguro. "Okay, I'm done."

He drew in an final heavy sigh. At least that was over with, all that was left was to put out of mind and move on. He moved his hands to his underwear and trouser bunched on his thighs and pulled both pieces up.

"Excuse me, young men over there!"

Rin's heart nearly leapt out of his rib cage - and so did Suguro's, apparently - and they felt their faces blanche.

_Fuck!!!_

Faster than he ever did before, Rin fastened his belt, smoothed out his clothes and _ever so casually_ turned towards the voice calling out for them from below.

"Are you two okay?" The policeman inquired.

"Y-yeah. We're fine." Suguro's voice quivered, despite his best intentions to control that.

"Just to let the two of you know, the congestion has started to clear up. The cars will be moving soon, so you may want to head back to your vehicles."

_....Oh._

"Thanks!"

As the man walked away, Rin and Suguro stared at each other in _wild relief_ that they had just narrowly escaped being caught in an inappropriate act - could they even get a fine for that?

_Jesus, that was close._

They made their way back to the cab.

"Thanks, man... You're the only one I'm comfortable about all... this, with. Would have been weirder with someone else."

_As if it wasn't weird enough, moron._

"It's alright..." It wasn't like they were particularly _bonding_ over this - that in itself is mildly disturbing. What had happened in the classroom only a few weeks ago just so happened and really wasn't meant to start up anything between them. Since then, they hadn't brought it up once and it came out to be a secret that Rin indirectly entrusted Suguro to keep. And that he did. That's all that was to it, really.

Or was it?

"Oh, you're back. Feeling better now?" Shura turned her head round when hearing the sound of the rear door open. Everyone else, excluding the driver, followed suite.

"Yeah, yeah." Rin waved it off, clambering into the car after Suguro, having a unreasoned preference to the window seat.

Luckily for them, the traffic did start moving once they were safely inside. They moved once more, a triumphant "Yaaaay!" from Shima and Rin as they did so.

Rin looked to the moving background out of the window, colours of green and grey slightly merging together.

 

_We'll be home soon._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I have this weird headcanon that Rin is a 'Sitzpinkler'... so he sits to piss... because he's very poor at aiming... hence the crouching) *AHEM* Moving on.
> 
> I'm not sure if this came across right, but on three-lane motorways (or at least in London), there's these long half-hills on the sides. There are trees there sometimes. That's where the both of them went to.  
> Thanks for reading! Next chap should be up next Tuesday. Have a good week!


	3. Elevator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Fuck _this._ Why now?" Suguro groaned, pressing his back to the lift doors and slumping down to the floor, one knee drawn up. Rin took that as an invitation and non-chalantly joined him. He stretched both of his legs out in front of him.
> 
> "Oi, I'm not _that_ bad!" he retorted.
> 
> "No, it's not you..." Suguro pinched the tip of his nose.
> 
> "Then?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Thanks for the subscriptions and >100 hits thus far! It's a little surreal that people are actually reading my work. And it gives me the boost to keep updating. I appreciate the support greatly <3  
> 

"Hurry your ass up! Everyone's waitin' downstairs for us!!"

"Coming, coming!" shouted a slightly flustered Rin, grabbing his phone from the table and yanking on his red boots that he usually wore with his uniform.

He barely managed to get them on properly and he was urged out of the room into the hallway. Suguro fumbled with the keys and locked the door as fast as he could. Hastily shoving them into his pocket, he grabbed Rin's arm and led the both of them away.

"Stairs or lift?"

 _No brainer._ "Lifts any day. Much quicker. _Lifts are cooler anyway..._

Suguro pressed the down button and they filed themselves into the empty space quickly.

Looking at the mirrors provided in the lifts, Rin took the chance to sort his hair out. It was all over the place, like his bedhair always was. Almost like-

"Do you fuck in your sleep or what?"

...Sex hair.

Dude took the words right out of his mouth.

Rin spun around. "What-NO? It's always like this, alright?" He grumbled, and turned back round to focus his attention back on trying to smooth out the disheveled blue locks spiked outwards. In all honesty, he couldn't care much anyway, at least not nearly as much as someone else did on their rooster-like _work of art._

While he did so, he found himself subconsciously shifting his gaze from himself in the mirror to the reflection of the other teen standing behind him.

_His hair is super cool though._

He was shook from his thoughts by a loud growl emerging deep in the lift. It screeched to a sudden hault and the lights above them began to flicker.

"What happened?"

"Awh, don't tell me..." Suguro looked at the digital number on the small screen displaying '0' on it momentarily before going completely black. "...Fuck." He traced his fingers along the buttons, searching for the emergency call button. Once he located it, he jammed is finger into it and waited.

 

* * *

 

"Thank you." A small click was heard as the other side ended the call.

"Twenty minutes, huh..." Rin spoke up after a moment of silence.

"Fuck _this._ Why now?" Suguro groaned, pressing his back to the lift doors and slumping down to the floor, one knee drawn up. Rin took that as an invitation and non-chalantly joined him. He stretched both of his legs out in front of him.

"Oi, I'm not _that_ bad!" he retorted.

"No, it's not you..." Suguro pinched the tip of his nose.

"Then?"

"It's just that-ugh. When it stopped like that, I had a sudden urge to piss - a little."

 

_This felt vaguely familiar._

Rin sat up.

"Hey, um... It's okay... Suguro." That was probably one of the first few times he had properly addressed the guy by his name. Yet it rolled off his tongue in a slight weird but totally natural manner. "We'll be there soon. You can hold it." Rin paused, a sudden thought appearing in his head. "..but if you absolutely caaan't..." he nervously giggled, lifting a finger and pointing it to the corner furthest away from them. "I won't look, but you can go and release your business right over there in that-"

"No, thank you, I'm _fine._ " Suguro swatted his hand down. Rin drew his hand back, stroking the stinging sensation away with his other hand.

Within seconds, Rin bounced back. Another idea formed in his head and he shifted himself closer so he angled Suguro better. He reached his hands forward to grab Suguro's shoulders.

Almost immediately, Suguro yanked out of Rin's sudden - and too gay for him to handle - grasp.

"W-what are you doing?!" He snapped, face flushed.

"I was gonna do the shoulder-rubbing-calming-whatever thing... y'know, like you did before!"

"I don't need that! I'm fine!" He repeated, with emphasis. He folded his arms across his chest and gripped the opposite shoulder so they were out of reach. "I only did that to calm you down. I, on the other hand, do not need that."

"But you're all angry and annoyed! I think _you_ need to calm down."

His only response was a grunt of disapproval. Rin lowered his gaze.

"...please?" he asked, after a minute.

"Fine. Whatever." He unfolded his arms and relaxed his body for Rin, falling prey to that timid and pleading tone. _If it gets his annoying ass to shut up._ Face lighting up, Rin eagerly placed his pale hands over Suguro's shoulders, trying to replicate the exact position from memory, he curled his fingers into his shirt, stroking his thumb over the fabric.

He tried his best to be as soft and gentle as Suguro was but even he knew he was nowhere near that level. _It's worth a try, anyway._

"It's... probably not as good as you were but I still wanted to give back." he justified. "...Your hands were really comforting back then and it helped me. Th-thanks for that, I guess." He was bad at the mushy talk, like any guy was, in all honesty.

"Uh... Okay? I mean, it was nothing. Really." Suguro tried to remain calm and not let his threatening blush come to surface.

That hour or so cramped in the back of the classroom drifted into their thoughts. It gave Suguro second-hand embarrassment thinking about it, and it didn't even happen to him.

_Maybe I feel bad for him?_

_I don't know. This whole thing has weirded the both of us out._

"Can I ask: Is that the only time you've ever... had an accident?"

He tried to word it delicately, knowing quite well that Rin would be sensitive to it. He'd like to make it out here in one piece.

Rin only reddened a smidge at the question, unlike some huge over-the-top leap backwards and loud screech like Suguro briefly imagined. "Um... well, no. Other times were when I was younger, and stuff. Nothing recent though." _Thankfully... But fuck it, I might as well tell the truth, now that we're here._

Rin shifted on the spot, his tone changing. "Usually I manage to make it to the bathroom in time." he laughed a little before continuing. "But other times I do.. get there but also not get _there,_ if you get what I mean. But fortu- fortunately, I'm at home so I can just take a 'casual shower' or something. Haha..."

For a moment, Rin doubted he made the account too detailed. It was too late to retract that now. 

"Um-"

"But things have changed since then. It's like, at times, I feel like I'm gettin' better at controlling it but then I go back to how I was before. I didn't think it was a big issue, like, I thought it was totally normal. Me and my brother-"

 _Your brother and I._ Suguro kept that thought to himself.

"-went often. We always drank litres of water and juice... But my dad never said anything and that's why I didn't think there was anything wrong. But then again, I only surrounded myself with those two for pretty much most of my life and it was only when other people went like _'You just went to the bathroom'_ , _'Just hold it in!'_ " Rin put on a higher-pitched imitation of said people. "-was when I thought _'Wait, there's something different about me.'._ I mean, I still said _'Oh, I just drink lots',_ which was true, but..." Rin looked up at Suguro. "I'm weird, I know." He pushed his hand up his face, raking his long raven lock up with it.

"Well, how often is 'often' ?"

"Every two hours maybe?"

Suguro stared at him.

"What." Rin deadpanned.

"That's not normal, Okumura."

"Well, how often do _you_ go?!"

"I-" Suguro counted on his fingers. "Maybe four... five times a day?"

"Really?!"

"Yeah?!" He stared around before looking back at Rin.

"Okay. Well I did try to fix myself. I've tried cutting down how much I drank, but dad saw how little I was drinking and forced me back to our normal amount. Also I got really thirsty. And I also tried not going as often and holding it in for a bit, which I think _did_ work, but I didn' like doing it since I always felt so uncomfortable n' I got worried I wouldn't make it, or I was hurting myself, so I stopped. And now I'm back to square one."

"...I think you might have an issue with your..." _How to phrase it..._ "excretory system." He inwardly cringed, _that just sounds weird to say_. "Have you been to the doctor's about this?"

" _Doctor's?_   Well, no, like I said, I never thought about it as a big issue and neither did my dad, so no."

"Maybe you should. It sounds serious."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, totally. It's good to go and get yourself checked out."

"Okay..." Rin huffed. He never particularly minded going to the doctor's but it was a little boring waiting to be seen, even if Yukio was beside him. Though, since his brother WAS in training to be a doctor - an exorcist one now, at least - Rin had no need to go for visits. The most damage he had gotten was a few deep cuts and bruises from the various fights he gotten into, which were easily treated with bandages and cold compresses.

The elevator let out a loud power-up-esque noise and the both of them felt the descent once more. They moved away from the door, a few narrow moments before they opened and they would have splatted flat embarrassingly on their backs.

"Woo, about time!"

"Oh fuck, we're so dead meat. Hurry!"

 The pair bolted though the lobby and out of the rotating curved glass doors. Outside, they were greeted by the rest of their 'squad'.

"You two made it." The younger Okumura spoke.

"Yeah, listen sorry, we-"

Yukio's hand went up as to silence them. "Don't worry, we're aware of what happened. I hope the two of you are okay."

"We're okay, thanks for askin'." Rin retorted.

Two men in neat uniform approached them.

"I apologise sincerely for what happened. From what we know, the elevator malfunctioned for a short while. We are conducting a thorough investigation of this at the moment."

"Apology accepted. It wasn't a big deal anyway." Suguro replied. Which was true, it was not _all_ that bad. It had given him an opportunity to learn a little more about his temporary roommate - for this stay - and for him to vent out his problems.

  _He wasn't half-bad himself._

"Now that's all done and dusted , let's get going before we delay ourselves any further. Yo two ready to go?"

A "Yeah" came from the both of them.

"Let's go and have some fun-oh wait, Suguro, do you want to quickly go and take a-"

"No, no we need to get moving. I'll deal with that later, yeah?" Suguro hushed him.

"Okay..? Uh, hey!" Rin was pushed into the mini-van where everyone else had gotten into while they were speaking with the technical staff, making small conversations with each other.

Within minutes, the vehicle started up and they - finally - began making their way. The two new additions to the party anticipated and answered the questions - and taunts from Shima, namely _'Were you scaaared~'_ and _'Did you try breaking out?'_ \- that the Pages threw at them.

As the questions died down and the conversations moved to other topics, Rin couldn't help but think back to their little chat. _It was nice to share that with someone._

_I should get to know him better._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter but I wanted to give Rin a chance to explain some of the things he's gone through concerning the business. It sort of sets the tone for the next chapter.  
> See you all next Tuesday! Take care~


	4. Diagnosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Okumura! There's nothing wrong with you! You just... You have a condition that's finally getting diagnosed. There's no fixing going on."
> 
> "...I _know_ , I really do, but..." Rin sighed. "Sometimes it just made me feel... like something was wrong with me, or something like that. I don't know really." He looked down dejectedly."
> 
> Suguro placed a firm hand on Rin's shoulder, squeezing it. "It's going to be fine.  _You're_ going to be fine. I'll be here to help, no matter what."

The sound of the door opposite Mephisto unlocking caught his attention from where he was sat at his large polished chestnut desk.

"Ah, Rin Okumura! To what pleasure do I owe your visit to my office for?" the eccentric-cladded demon chirped, in his usual boisterous voice, upon the sight of the two boys.

"Mephisto, we need you to come with us to the doctor's."

"Oh? The _doctor's_?" Mephisto arched an eyebrow at the question. "Whatever seems to be the issue?"

Rin turned to Suguro, pressing for an initiation. He cleared his throat. "I don't think it's anything major, but I've noticed that Okumura has been making frequent trips to the bathroom in a day and is not able to keep it, uh, in for long. I'm suspecting he must have a medical bladder issue, but I think it's wise to have it checked out by actual experts."

If they could, they would have gone already if not for the policy of having a responsible adult attending to an appointment if the patient was under eighteen. With Rin having no parent left, they could only ask Mephisto who  _was_ his guardian after all.

"Is that so? Well I'm not very familiar with such a thing, but alright. I consent to attending this trip to the doctors. I just hope that this won't waste my time; I'm a very busy chairman, you see."

That last statement was something both Exwires could agree to disagree on, but sure. 

"Yes, I see-" _not really._  "I'm very sorry for the disturbance to your schedule."  _Which was probably empty, in all honesty._

 _Man, he's always so polite and good with words,_ Rin quietly commented to himself.

 

The three of them made their said trip to one of the General Practices located within the True Cross town. They checked in with the receptionist and waited to be seen, which took some time considering all the patients that had to be seen.

After the two had described in detail Rin's circumstance, the doctor requested that, for the next three days, they were to keep a log of all the timings of Rin's bathroom visits - keeping as natural as possible, no fabricating or exclusions - for their next appointment with a specialist they were redirected to.

As an affirmative, Rin and Suguro went down to the convenience store to buy a small portable notebook - making it inexcusable for Rin to ' _accidently forget it'._

Over the course of the next few days, they noted down the timings of all his trips. Suguro was particularly adamant about that; he would pull Rin over at various points during the day and whisper "Psst! Did you fill it in?" only for Rin to whisper back "Yes, you don't need to keep reminding me!".

The second appointment was with a specialist this time. The clinic was much smaller, considering it specialised in urology which was a specific department in the medical field.

Rin's fingers drummed over his lap as Suguro flicked through the logs in the notebook for the umpteenth time. He shuffled in his seat, audibly sighing as he collected his thoughts in silence.

"What's up with you now? Why are you nervous?"

Rin looked up to see Suguro eyeing his restless leg, bouncing up and down as if it had a life of its own. He crossed one leg over the other, as if to suppress the fidgeting, yet that didn't work very well. "It's just... I've dealt with this bladder problem for so long and now I feel like it's all about to come together."

"I get what you mean." Suguro shut the notebook. "In a way, it's like you are finally getting an answer to your long-term questions about yourself."

"What if... What if it's really bad?" The worry in Rin's eyes became more apparent. "Wh-what if I have a bad disease, like a UTI?"

Suguro lightly chuckled. "Okumura, if it was something really severe, you would have known." Suguro placed a hand on Rin's arm. "Don't worry. You are in good hands now, they'll know how to treat you. I promise."

That added hand squeeze did wonders to Rin's nerves.

In the appointment room, the male specialist kindly took the notebook from them and read over the logs, as well as the doctor's notes that had been sent to the clinic. 

This, along with the symptoms Rin had mentioned once again, confirmed it; he had mild case of an Overactive Bladder. Just as Rin had described, the neurogenic bladder condition caused a high frequency of urges even when the patient wasn't full. However, they did feel full and that made one want to rush off to the bathroom.

After the specialist clearly explained the situation, the two were then given detailed instructions as to how to train Rin back into a more regular cycle. This involved strengthening the pelvic muscles in his lower abdomen by exercise and regular contraction of said muscles, as well as 'bladder training' - methods to delay his trips to the bathroom and holding more volume before excreting.

Thanking the specialist for the help, they gathered themselves and left the clinic.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled." Rin exhaled, shoving his hands into his pockets as soon as the door was shut.

"So am I."

"How do you feel?"

"I feel relieved-" _Wow that was a bad unintentional pun_ "-that we went to see someone about this. T-thanks for coming with me... It's great to finally be fixing myself."

" _Fixing_ yourself?!" Suguro stared at Rin in the absurdity of his statement. "Okumura! There's nothing wrong with you! You just... have a condition that's finally getting diagnosed. There's no fixing going on."

"...I _know_ , I really do, but..." Rin sighed. "Sometimes it just made me feel... like something was wrong with me, or something like that. I don't know really." He looked down dejectedly."

Suguro placed a firm hand on Rin's shoulder, squeezing it. "It's going to be fine.  _You're_ going to be fine. I'll be here to help, no matter what."

"Thanks..."

"Should we start this tomorrow?" Suguro waved the timetable instructions in his hand.

"Yeah." Rin looked up and gave a smile. "The sooner, the better."

 

* * *

 

The bell rang within the quiet classroom, indicating the end of the first half of the double period session. The teacher called for a five minute break and temporarily left the room.

Out of habit, Rin pushed himself off the bench and attempted to make his way to the bathroom but was stopped by Suguro leaning forward and firmly grabbing his forearm.

"Nope. You stay right here."

"Oh... right. Forgot." Rin sheepishly sat back down.

"Five minutes." Suguro adjusted his watch to a more readable position. "Let's start with that." **** ~~~~

That was tolerable. Rin sat on his hands and kicked his legs forwards and back under the table until Suguro gave the signal that he could go.

The teachers had luckily made his training easier by allowing him to be excused to the bathroom. This was something he now took for granted.

The following day, Suguro had told him to wait five minutes once at the toilets. Rin kept this in mind, pacing back and forth in front of the stalls until his phone beeped to mark the end of five minutes.

It felt far longer than five minutes, but he forced himself not to dig out his phone or go in early. The sight of his relief wasn't helping either and he often had to stop and squirm on the spot, fighting back the urge to just run in and pee. _It's just a small urge_ , he would cost himself.

The delaying his need didn't come without its reward, though. The relief he felt whilst sitting on the toilet felt more satisfying than it ever had been. It was somewhat silly, but part of him felt pleased by it, even if it was just a few minutes of waiting.

To test himself more, Rin would drink more out of his water to increase his urine production. That way, not only was he lengthening the gaps between each bathroom break, he was also making his bladder physically hold more contents.

Slowly but surely, he felt the effects of his training. He still had to go roughly the same number of times per day, but the both of them knew it would take weeks before any changes can be noted.

It was Rin's decision to bump up the delaying from its ten or so minutes to almost an hour. Despite Suguro voicing his concerns, Rin reassured him he could do it and if he couldn't - which was an undesirable situation - he would be mature and use the bathroom.

Twenty-five minutes in and he seemed to be coping relatively well. To distract him from his need, he was told to "focus on the lecture and at least try to make some coherent notes, your handwriting is atrocious!". Naturally, he zoned out multiple times, though at least he was settling his mind on other matters other than his current one. He broke out of his daydream, however, and once he did so, small twinges came flickering back.

The rest of the lesson followed the same routine, Suguro whispering time stamps until the second bell sounded. As soon as it did, Rin shot out of his seat, shoving all his belongings that were sprawled across the desk - to Suguro's dismay - into his bag and dashing out of the door in ten seconds flat. Suguro begrudgingly collected the homework from the teacher on his behalf.

Most of the longer lessons they shared at cram school roughly had the same structure: Rin would spend the lessons part paying attention, part finding ways to distract his brain from convincing him to ask to be excused - not that it wasn't a common occurrence at this point in time - and Suguro sitting beside him on the same row, announcing time stamps and reassuring him quietly.

The two decided, after a few days, that it was a better time than never to notify Yukio. They purposefully took their time with packing up their books and tucking in all of the benches.

Yukio picked up on their intentional hanging around long after everyone has left and spoke up.

"Is... everything okay with you two?" Yukio tucked the textbooks underneath his arm.

"Yes, for the most part. It's just that... I've been meaning to tell you but I haven't found the right time until now. Uh, so we went - me and Suguro-"

"Suguro and I." the teen in subject corrected. Rin ignored him.

"-went to the doctor's a few days ago concerning a- **an** issue-" _Happy now, grammar police?_ "-I had. They directed us to a specialist and they said I have a-" _What was the word again?_ "-an ovary- an overreacting blag- _fuck!_ Blad-"

Suguro elbowed Rin in the arm, then cleared his throat.

"Ow!"

"He has an Overactive Bladder."

"Yeah, that." Rin rubbed the throbbing part of his arm. _Man, he's powerful!_

Suguro muttered something along the lines of "You idiot..."

Yukio kept silent for a few seconds, a slight perplexed expression on his face as he unadmittedly knew little about the subject, as any normal person would, though he _technically_ was a doctor. If an exorcist one counted.

He composed himself quickly.

"Oh... okay. Thank you for telling me that, Rin." He gave a quick professional smile.

This time Suguro _nudged_ Rin, as a gentle encouragement to explain.

"Oh right. Um, if you didn't know, it basically means that my body's all like 'It's time to go pee!' even before my bladder's reached full capacity or anything close t' that. It only fills part of the way which is why I'm always needing the bathroom so often. Haha."

"...I understand. That explains a lot, actually. Is that all you needed to discuss with me about?"

Rin gives a quick glance to Suguro. "Uh, yeah. That's all Yukio. Oh, and Suguro's helping me through it so you don't need to worry." He pointed a finger to Suguro, accentuating.

"Oh, good to know you have support."  Rin didn't seem to have anything else left to say. He briefly glanced at his watch, wary of his schedule. "Alright, I'll see the both of you later."

"'Kay, see ya." Rin leant against the teacher's desk, hands grasping the edge, as Yukio turned to leave.

Rin let out a sigh once Yukio was out of the door.

"Well I'm glad that's over with."

"Proud of you."

"Really?"

"Sure." Suguro shrugged.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Medical explanation time!  
> Overactive Bladder, or OAB for short, is a chronic condition in which (this is not a direct cause but) there is an overactivity of the Detrusor muscle in the bladder which causes a frequent urge to 'void'. This can happen during the day, night or both. It is typically characterised by urgency - sudden need to void that is unaVOIDable (ha, unintentional pun) - and urinary frequency - going to the bathroom a number of times higher than the average person in your age and height range. If it's more than eight times, it's definitely a sign of abnormality; this is what Suguro had picked up on during the elevator conversation. The quantity of liquid released is not an awful lot, due to the bladder not actually filling up entirely before one gets that 'gotta go' feeling. 
> 
> At specialist appointments, patients are meant to bring along a personal diary that has all the timings of each bathroom trip noted down which helps in the process of diagnosis. It's generally kept for only a few days, hence why Rin had a three-day one.  
> In Rin's case here, his condition is thankfully mild. This is why he doesn't go as frequently as every half hour or so but frequent enough to be labelled - by Suguro - as 'not normal, man!'. His effects only are active during the day - I think he's too heavy of a sleeper to keep waking up and going at night. 
> 
> He is undergoing training which should help to bring him back to a somewhat normal routine. Part of that includes what they were doing into class: delaying his voiding by a few minutes and gradually increasing that. It definitely won't be a normal 5-6 times but enough to allow him to hold it for a while before scampering off to a bathroom. Had they been locked up in the back of a classroom NOW, maybe he would have made it... Who knows?  
> What compelled me to write a Rin having this condition, I simply don't have an answer to. XD I like to research diseases, and when brainstorming ideas for this fanfic, I really wanted to write Rin dealing with a bladder condition. (To make the omo excusable c;) I think my dad might have OAB, actually...
> 
> Anyhoo, I'll end my science geekiness. I'm not qualified for any sort of medical diagnosis but I tried my best to be professional about it. I've collated all of this information from research over the past few months. And anyway, everyone's case is unique; there's no 'wrong' symptoms for any condition, really.  
> I'll see you all next week with a new update. See ya!


	5. Boyfriends?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _What's gotten into them..._ Shima thought.
> 
> He was about to turn back when he caught sight of something subtly moving under the desk, besides Rin. In curiosity, he leaned forward to get a closer look and when he did, he was in utter disbelief.
> 
> Under the table, Suguro's hand was most definitely holding Rin's hand, his fingers clasped around the back and his thumb gliding along the skin.
> 
> _Why is Bon holding Rin's hand? That's kinda-_
> 
> _Wait..._
> 
> _Are they dating?!_
> 
> {Mentions of religion, just to warn if that irks any non-believers out here.}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the mishap yesterday. I was editing a future chapter and it ended up posting midway. If you got that email, ignore it please! I don't think the link would work anyway. I hope, or you'll be confused and spoiled.

It wasn't a _complete_ and utter turn of events. But it was **definitely noticeable** to those Exwire students that had spent time with the two in question that they had begun to get along a whole lot more than their rivalry relationship they had seemed to harbour. Such of that was particularly noticed by Shima and Konekomarou.

When discussing the as of recent closeness, they concluded that it was just perhaps that they saw past the stark personality clash and begun to actually try and get along for once. This still lingered in Shima's mind whenever he saw them interact on a daily basis. He was more of a person to just go along with things, though he still wondered if there was something beneath the surface that they has missed out. Thing is, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly _what_.

Until what he _thought_ he saw in class one day.

 

At the front of class, Miss Angeline droned on about the history behind one of the scriptures. Not that he was paying particular attention.

He sighed, relaxing the hold on his textbook and laid it flat on the table. He let his eyes wander around the green-walled classroom until they fell upon his best friend and his- _their_ blue-haired friend sitting side by side. The both of them faced forward, trying to pay attention to the lecture, or at least it seemed that Suguro was. Rin, on the other hand, was a little fidgety and pink in his seat, even though he was trying his hardest not to fidget.

 _What's gotten into them..._ Shima thought.

He was about to turn back when he caught sight of something subtly moving under the desk, besides Rin. In curiosity, he leaned forward to get a closer look and when he did, he was in utter disbelief.

Under the table, Suguro's hand was most definitely holding Rin's hand, his fingers clasped around the back and his thumb gliding along the skin.

_Why is Bon holding Rin's hand? That's kinda-_

_Wait..._

_Are they dating?!_

Shima was now full on staring wide-eyed at the 'couple' so hard his eyes could pop out at any second.

There was simply no other explanation.

A slightly crooked grin morphed on his features, completely dumbfounded that _Bon,_ out of everyone here, would get buddy-buddy with Rin, let alone progress to date him.

_Ah... It makes sense now._

And anyway, it's not everyday that two guys non-romantically held hands. Even if they were trying their best to hide their affectionate gesture underneath the table.

_Sly bastards._

 

Shima packed away quickly and casually approached Rin after the bell sounded.

"Hey Okumura."

His voice startled Rin out his daze. He jumped and spun round.

"Congrats on your new boyfriend."

"WHAT?! BOYFRIEND?!"

Shima didn't even bother to answer. "You know, I never thought I'd see the day when Bon would turn gay and go date a guy. In middle school, he dated a bunch of girls but then he stopped once he started his serious training so he could be an Aria and Dragoon." Shima laughed. "Who knew that this would happen... Anyway, see you later _lovebird!"_ Shima walked past him, placing a hand on his shoulder and patting it.

"But I..." Rin trailed as Shima disappeared from line of sight. He continued staring in the same direction of the door before glancing away.

 _Suguro and I aren't dating. No way._ Sure, Suguro was a cool guy and all, but his feelings were solely platonic for his friend.

_Besides, that doesn't even happen._

_...Right?_

Rin shook his head and swung his bag over his shoulder, moving to the door.

 

* * *

 

He had intended to just forget about the whole ordeal from earlier that day with the pink-haired skirt-chaser, but it ended up being all he could think about while he sat at his bedroom desk, his textbook wide open.

_"Congrats on your new boyfriend!"_

_"I'd never thought I'd see the day when Bon would turn gay and go date a guy!"_

Shima's words loomed in Rin's head. As much as he wanted to discard the comments as Shima being silly and weird, he couldn't help but feel rather... confused. The fact that he had purposefully approached him to bother him invigorated that much. This felt more than just his antics.

 _I'm... far more than aware that a man and a woman are able to love and have relationships. I know that much. I mean, I've watched enough shows, read enough manga - and F/M porn,_ admittedly - _to know this is a thing._

_But.. two guys dating?_

_Was this a new thing? Hold on. I think I remember reading something in one of the Bibles in the old man's church._

_Didn't it say this was wrong? Something like people dying if they did?_

He groaned In frustration, grabbing a few tufts of his deep blue locks. He cursed for having his memory fail him at this moment.

 _It seems possible, maybe. Girls kiss and hug each other all the time, but then again they're girls. What if guys did the same? That just seems so..._ weird.

Rin just couldn't wrap his head around the ideas of two men doing the same just as easily as girls, let alone him and _Suguro_ doing that.

 _I'll ask Suguro in the morning,_ he decided.

 

* * *

 

Rin slid the key into the keyhole and opened the abandoned door, the familiar multi-coloured corridor coming into view. Walking just ahead of him was the person he just wanted to see.

"Oi, Suguro." Rin called once he had caught up to him, gingerly pinching Suguro's white shirt and pulled it to grab his attention. He turned round at Rin's voice.

"Yeah?"

"Can- can two guys get into a relationship?"

Suguro arched an eyebrow. _Where is he going with this?_ "Yes, of course. Why?"

"They can?!"

"Yes? And so can girls-"

"GIRLS CAN TOO?!"

"Yes! A male can date another **male** just as a female can date another **female**."

"Really? Nobody told me about this!"

"What-you're such an idiot, really! You don't need to be _told_ that, you see it with your own eyes! Everywhere. Where have you been living, in the eighteenth century or what?!"

"Hey!! It's not _my_ fault I grew up in a church where none of this sort of stuff happened! So how was _I_ supposed to know?"

"...Oh right. I forgot you were brought up under a Catholic Church. Of course." He cleared his throat. "If I am right in remembering, your religion forbids the act of homosexuality and sees it as unlawful. They argue that it is unnatural and goes against nature in that man and woman were made for each other."

Rin blinked.

"I feel like it was in Leviticus... Or was it Genesis?" Suguro made a mental note to himself to reread those sections after class.

"...Yeah, I vaguely remember reading about that in the Bible." Rin commented, scratching the back of his head habitually.

"Do you believe in any of that?"

"No, not really. It just sounds unfair. You should be allowed to date whoever you wanna. Even if they'll, like, get punished and things."

"That's only what they make you believe. Of course, you come to realise that those were just early day views of homosexuality and of course, things have changed since then. Still, it's unfortunate that some religions - particularly Abrahamic ones - have to have such homophobic principles. Then, again, there's far worse."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. But that's a discussion for another day. Why do you ask?"

"Shima. He was saying something-"

"Figures. It was probably meaningless. Ignore him."

"That's what I tried to do, but it's hard. He got me thinking. And now, we're here."

"Wow. He has that effect on you?" To Suguro, the guy could easily damage a few brain cells if you hung around him too long. Then again, the same can be said about a certain Knight-in-training.

"I guess so." Rin only just noticed that they had been lingering outside the door ever since Suguro started explaining. He corrected that and pushed open the door and held it open after him.

"...Right." Suguro quietly thanked for the gesture and lifted a hand to rake through his hair, not too much to ruin the fresh layer of gel.

They were greeted by Shiemi quietly sitting at the front table, unpacking her books and pencil case, which ended their conversation it seemed.

Rin's questions were quelled but something was... missing.

 

When lessons had finally ended for the day and he had a chance alone, he changed into comfier lounge clothes, sat cross-legged on his bed and allowed himself to think.

_Okay, I know it's not me being freaked out by this whole... gay business. I mean, I know it exists, I'm not that stupid._

_Suguro had already cleared everything up so there's that too._ Rin counted the items off on his fingers. _And I understood everything... at least._

_Shima - he was only teasing right? So what was it about what he said? And why am I thinking so much about this? I never do!_

He set aside his phone he had been absent-mindedly tapping away on and rotated himself so he could lay down on his pillow and attempt to relax. As he did so, he instinctively reached out to grab the bottle of the half finished water, waving his hand around until he felt the neck of it and gripped onto it rather forcefully. Crunches of the plastic folding were heard and felt under his fingers.

Sitting up, he pulled the bottle to him and took a long gulp.

_It was the way he said it, I think. Me 'n Suguro..._

He pulled the bottle from his mouth, inhaling a breath. He took another gulp subconsciously.

_Wait._

_I can't possibly be thinking of me and Suguro-- in a relationship?!_

 

He almost choked on his mouthful of water.

His eyes widened at the realisation that _this is what might have been eating him up,_ his stare boring into the ceiling. He finished his gulp thickly and with emphasis.

"Fucking hell, man..." Rin groaned, flopping back down on the bed. He bent an arm and covered it over his eyes.

The door opened, his brother's footsteps registering against the floor.

"I'm back. Is everything alright?" Yukio asked, hearing Rin cursing as he walked in.

"Hey. Uh, yeah. I'm-fine, just thinking a little. And tired. Long day." Rin monosyllabically responded, not removing his arm to acknowledge his brother.

Yukio's eyebrows furrowed a little in concern. "Oh... okay. Just make sure to get all your work done." He replied, the chair scraping against the floor as he sat down on it and pulled books from out of his bag on his lap.

Rin finally moved his arm off his face, surprised Yukio was still in the room. _Usually he doesn't even last thirty seconds before he's off again. I've **timed** it. _ "You're not... going anywhere?"

"I haven't been called tonight. And good thing at that, since I have work to catch up on."

Rin rolled over to face the wall. _Yukio's almost always out. But the one time I wanna be alone and he's gonna be here the whole time?_

 _Fine. I'll continue this later._ He sighed, begrudgingly getting up off the comfort if his bed and made his way to his disorganised desk. "Might as well start before you keep naggin' me."

_At least this will distract me for a bit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope people don't mind that I dabbled a little in religion on this chapter. I really, genuinely love how AnE has has a sub-genre of religion, hardly any anime I've seen has tackled that, so I guess I wanted to explore that a little more. I sort of headcanon Rin to be a moderate Catholic - he isn't very religious but he follows it somewhat. It strengthens after he learns of his heritage, because if he wants to be a paladin, he's gotta have a strong faith in God, right? (Ooh yeah and I headcanon Suguro, Koneko and Shima to be Buddhist c:)  
> Also it has come to my attention a few days ago that religion in the East isn't the same in the West. There's no real sense of strong belief like we have. As in religion isn't practiced the same over there. So, oops about that, my bad. I would have deleted and rewrote this chapter to be something else if I knew earlier but ah well. We'll just roll with my personal headcanon regardless.  
> My handling of religion here was very very light - I honestly could have gone on and on about religion and homosexuality, cause my religion seems to have strong homophobic views that I passionately refute. -_- I'll spare you the rambling.  
> See you next week!


	6. Uncontrollable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _{"Shit. Uh, forget about the mission and go look for Rin. They couldn't have gone far. That does not include anyone else. Red team, green team, yellow team and purple team, you continue as you were told. Once you're done, report to me and I'll tell you kiddos what to do next. Got that?"}_
> 
>  
> 
> Naturally, Suguro was the first to respond.
> 
>  
> 
> _{"Red team, Suguro speaking. Hold on a second! What happened to Okumura?"}_
> 
>  
> 
> _{"He's gone to hang out with Amaimon for a bit. You just carry on as you were."}_
> 
>  
> 
> _{"No!! Screw the mission!! We need to find him! NOW!"}_

"Good morning class." Yukio's voice became apparent in the room and all the students gradually ended their conversations and fell to silence. "We have an announcement." He waited for everyone's undivided attention.

"Today we have a mission to complete. All pack your belongings that you may need during the day, including spare clothes in case you damage or dirty your current ones. The trip is just for the day so you do not need to bring overnight belongings unless it is urgent. Such as medicine and personal treatments."

The mood in the classroom lightened up like a fireplace in a dark forest. The weather was rather nice and the thought of being outside taking advantage of that instead of staying indoors listening to a lecture of theory while they all tried not to fall asleep in the warmth easily made everyone excited.

"Aww, sweet! A mission!" Rin exclaimed, bearing a big grin on his face.

"Okumura." Yukio carefully warned him, indicating he was not yet done. "Please meet us downstairs at the school entrance in twenty minutes. We have notified the school of the trip so you are excused from class for the rest of today. A coach will be waiting so don't dawdle in your dormitories." Yukio and the rest of the teachers exited the room, ending the announcement.

Everyone slowly rose out of their seats, packing their equipment away, seeming as none of them needed to get much else as it was only a day trip. Rin, however, had shoved everything as fast as he could and was about to bolt out of class when Suguro had rushed to him and grabbed his arm.

"Oi! What are _you_ in a hurry for?"

"Oh, I just need to grab..." Rin's voice lowered, as if to make sure nobody else heard, even if they were well out of ear-shot. "A spare empty bottle. In case I..."

"I don't really think that's necessary, Okumura."

"But what if I get stuck somewhere? I don't wanna..." his face flushed pink at the thought of his implication.

Suguro sighed. "Alright, do whatever." He let go of Rin's forearm. "I'll see you on the coach." He turned away and began walking to the hallway door.

 

Twenty minutes later and everyone was safely boarded on the coach and on their way to the mystery destination. Now that Yukio was aware of Rin's medical condition - and honestly, it explained _a lot-_ he arranged for regular stops at service stations every hour and a half, for Rin's sake. He was grateful but after two of these, Rin fervently insisted that they didn't need to stop so often - he felt he was capable of holding longer than he used to be able to.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to have an... _accide-"_

"Yes!! I said I'm fine, didn't I? I don't need to be treated like a child! I'm older than you..."

"If you say so..."

And the regular stops ceased. A good thing too, because the rest of the class seemed to get a little tired of stopping so often and wanted to get to the mission - and action - quickly, even though the stops allowed them to stretch their legs and provided them with air other than the hot stuffy one they were sitting in on the coach.

Once they had arrived at their destination, the group quickly disembarked the coach. The teachers informed the exwires of the task and split the group into pairs, mixing hem up a little as a purposeful way of "getting to work with and learn about someone other than your friends!"

"Why'd I get paired up with you of all people?!" Rin huffed as soon as they were directed their particular area of investigation and separated from the rest of the group.

Yukio placed some of his bullets into his gun and pushed the barrel against his palm, hearing the satisfying _click_ as it was loaded it with ammo. "Rin, I honestly don't know. Let's just-" Yukio took a moment to calm his subtly increasing voice. "Let's just get on with the mission."

"...What was it that we had to look for again?"

"...Were you even listening, Rin?"

"Sorry.. zoned out." He sheepishly grinned.

"We were told we have to look for any signs of the group of-"

 _There they are._ They were interrupted by a figure flying from above and right in front of them, his two feet hitting the ground.

"Well, if it isn't the Okumura brothers. Fancy meeting you here." Amaimon exclaimed.

Both of them grunted and gripped onto their weapons.

"Sorry for the interruption. But I think little brother and I have unfinished business."

Without letting them have a moment to digest the announcement, the green-spiked Earth King snaked an arm around Rin and whisked him away.

Staring wide-eyed, Yukio immediately rushed after them both. "RIN!!!"

He chases them on ground and slows down once they both disappear out of sight, still scanning the sky. He grabbed his radio transceiver hastily and attempted to speak into it in a calm voice, albeit quavering.

"Miss Kirigakure! Blue team, Okumura Y speaking. Amaimon has approached the scene and has taken Rin away. Over."

_{"WHAT?! AMAIMON?!"}_

"Yes. Over!"

_{"Where are you?!"}_

"Still in our designated area. I've lost sight of Rin about twenty seconds ago. Over."

Shura cursed on the other side. _{"Shit. Uh, forget about the mission and go look for Rin. They couldn't have gone far. That does not include anyone else. Red team, green team, yellow team and purple team, you continue as you were told. Once you're done, report to me and I'll tell you kiddos what to do next. Got that?"}_

Naturally, Suguro was the first to respond.

_{"Red team, Suguro speaking. Hold on a second! What happened to Okumura?"}_

_{"He's gone to hang out with Amaimon for a bit. You just carry on as you were."}_

_{"No!! Screw the mission!! We need to find him! NOW!"}_

A series of arguments through the radio sprouted. Eventually, everyone gave up the mission and went to look for Rin.

 

* * *

 

 

"Let me go, you asshole!" Rin yelled, trying to wriggle out of Amaimon's hold.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, brother." He indicated to the ground, which was miles of feet below them.

Rin let out a gasp but still struggled against Amaimon despite the height. _A fall like that would crush me for sure!_ Eventually he was thrown down once they were far away from anyone else and close enough to the ground.

"Oww! Why'd you do that?!" Rin hissed, rubbing the side of his head that had knocked against the concrete.

"How rude. I was keeping you from falling to your death and joining Father and you're not even grateful. That means I can hurt you just like you hurt me."

"Shut up! You sound like your damn _actual_ brother, lecturing me about manners!"

"I do? Maybe I'm spending too much time with him lately. Well, anyway. I'm glad I found you and we're here all alone. We have lots to talk about!"

"No we don't!" Rin spat venomously. "I won that fight in the forest fair and square! And also, that was a while back. Why are you suddenly here?"

Amaimon shrugged. "Brother didn't want me near you again. I also couldn't find the right time. You were always with your friends and you were never alone. I could have won if Brother didn't interject and lock me in his clockhouse."

Rin tried to sit up but Amaimon stamped his foot into Rin's stomach, knocking him back down with a pained shriek. He hept his foot there, leaning into that leg, causing more painful cries and protests.

"I demand a rematch, right now. But I'll win this time."

"Fat chance." Rin kicked his foot into Amaimon's face, sending him backwards.

A series of physical combat followed, Rin whacking his sheathed sword into Amaimon. He eventually drew it open and fought properly against Amaimon.

Amaimon held back less this time, know he was facing proper opponent who was stronger this time. Eventually, his power became too strong for Rin and the half-demon lost stamina. He was thumped to the ground on several occasions but had got back up.

He later was whacked quite vigorously - good thing he could heal - against the wall. The impact vibrated into his lower abdomen and a very sudden and uncontrollable urge of desperation hit him Amaimon pinned him against the wall, one hand wrapped around his neck and the other holding Rin's wrists above his head.

"What's wrong? Tired so soon?"

"Never." Rin grunted, squirming both to free him of his grasp and to fight back the wave of desperation, crossing his legs and wriggling in an attempt for it to subside.

Amaimon pressed his forehead against Rin's. "My little brother." Rin grimaced at the cold skin and familial title, trying to push his own head away to break the contact. "How adorabl-"

Amaimon was cut short by a loud hissing from Rin's lower body. Warm liquid ran down and around the pants over his twisted legs, pooling and splattering around his and Amaimon's feet.

"...e. Urgh!!" He scowled, letting go of Rin and taking a step back as the pool continued to grow. Rin dropped down onto his ankles, sitting in it. "Human excretion. That's not adorable! That's disgusting! It _smells_ too!" Amaimon pinched his nose in disgust once the stench reached him.

In the distance, they could faintly hear Rin's name being urgently called. Amaimon turned to the source of the voices.

"Seems your 'friends' are here. Goodbye brother."

And with that, he disappeared.

Rin sat up against the wall, drawing his knees to his face. He lost the fight. He became weakened by Amaimon despite him being absolutely determined to win. Amaimon was too powerful. And to add to that, he had wet himself... _badly._

Rin buried his face into his knees, not caring in the slightest they were sticky with his own secretion.

Suguro approached him first, followed by the rest of their squad.

"Okumura!" He shouted, sprinting to Rin. His eyes widened as he noticed involuntary shaking resonating from Rin.

At Suguro's voice, Rin lifted his head up, exposing his defeated, tear strewn face to his best friend.

Suguro tentatively bit his lip in overwhelming guilt. _I've never seen Okumura so... **broken**._

He crouched down, turning his broad back to him. "Hop on. Don't argue." He ordered, jerking a thumb to his back.

Rin crawled across and slowly climbed onto Suguro's back, wrapping his arms around his warm neck. Suguro placed a firm hand under each of Rin's thighs and rose.

"Shit, you've pissed..." He murmured, feeling damp fabric under his fingers.

He instantly regretted not asking the teachers to swap partners. _If I did, he wouldn't be in this position! I would have prevent'd that!_

He didn't finish off his sentence because Rin seemed to have finished it off in his head and he heard him begin to tearfully gasp beside his ear.

"Hey, hey, hey, shh! It's okay. Don't worry, nobody except I will know." He gave the crying teen a reassuring pat on the leg. "I'll get you cleaned up once we get back." He turned round, the rest of the class crowding around them in a semi-circle.

Yukio grabbed his radio and spoke into it.

"Miss Kirigakure. Okumura speaking. We have located Rin. Over."

_{"You have?! Where?!"}_

"Right on the outskirts, in between the two buildings. Over."

_{"Is he alright?"}_

"Not exactly. He's all bruised, bleeding, shaking quite violently... And crying." He added, remoursefully. "Over."

Shura fell quiet for a few seconds. _{"Bring him to the meeting point. All of us will be there. Over and out."}_

They all joined the teachers and boarded the coach quickly. The mission was incomplete but, seeing as Amaimon could still be around and the danger he poses on all the exorcists, not just the Exwires or Rin, it was far too dangerous to stay.

During the whole walk around the site to the coach, Suguro carried Rin. Save for his calmed down and now quiet breathing, he was completely quiet. If Suguro was honest, he was losing his mind over Rin's current condition but the push of Rin's chest as it rose and fell in sync with his breathing convinced him he was, well, at least _alive_. Rin rested his cheek against Suguro's shoulder, staring out to the surrounding with relaxed, half-lidded eyes.

Once on the coach, they sat Rin in the aisle seat next to Suguro - at the tanned teen's request - so that they could monitor him easily. He dozed off a few times but never managed to get any quality naps.

They disembarked the coach mid-afternoon and the students were quickly debriefed by the teachers - who had apologised for the sudden departure - and had the option to take rest or return to their would-otherwise-be-missed classes. Being the prodigy he is, Yukio wanted to rush off to his normal classes and so he entrusted Suguro to take Rin to the infirmary and make him take rest there.

Suguro carried Rin to the room and laid him down on one of the empty beds provided. The nurse had popped out of the room for a while when they entered.

"Lie down here. I'll go grab you some fresh clothes."

Five minutes later and he had managed to rush to Rin's dorm and back. Wasn't that miles away? "Got you some clothes- somehow. Your wardrobe is a fuckin' mess, sort it out.  Anyway get changed and wait for the nurse to get back." The bell rang for the next ten seconds, indicating the beginning of the final period. "I need to shoot off to class so I'll see you later, Okumura... Take care."

**_Love you._ **

Suguro jolted at the sudden thought that crossed his mind and what he had almost blurted out without warning.

_Wait, what the fuck?!_

His hand gripped the door handle so hard his knuckles began to grow white. When noticing this, he left quickly and quietly shut the door, all the while not noticing Rin's gaze on his back.

Now, Rin was finally left to himself and his thoughts until he was allowed back in class.

**But the timing was very, very wrong.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like we're getting somewhere, eh?  
> I actually didn't intend on having the whole 'love you' part in there but you know... the characters seems to shape the story sometimes, it's just out of your control XD (much like their feelings are *coughcough*) Anyhoo, let me know how you're feeling about everything so far, I'd love to hear opinions!


	7. Incomprehensible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would happen if they got together? Would it even work? _Sure, we might get on well now but we still argue often. Without it, it's weird. Though, that might be a good argue, like it's part of our relationship._
> 
> _Relationship..._
> 
> Rin knew, better enough, that being in a relationship with the guy meant giving his constant love and attention to him. _We rarely even touch. I swear he hates touching. How are we supposed to jump to constant holding hands, hugging - and kissing?!_
> 
> His mind felt cloudy and he wanted no more than to have it cleared, to figure out what all this over-analysis meant.

_Big, warm hands found their way to my smaller ones, caressing my pale skin. Our fingers slipped in between the gaps, intertwining in each other so naturally and smoothly._

_My eyes trailed from our hands playing with each other in unison and fluidity to the face of Suguro Ryuji - the guy I am so suddenly and passionately head over heels with. I found that my boyfriend was looking back at him all the same and I quickly broke eye contact from those eyes that glinted hazel in the broad daylight._

_"What's wrong, Okumura?" He softly asked, his smile he was wearing slightly dropping in mild concern._

_"That's not my name." I retorted playfully, my tail lazily splashing in the fountain where we sat upon. Of course I wasn't mad at that but I still played it that way anyway. I looked away, giving him an exaggerated pout._

_"Sorry. What's wrong, Rin-rin?" He asked again, giggling at the cute nickname he had given me once before._

_"Nothing's wrong... Hey, I never gave you a name."_

_"Then you can call me Ryuji."_

_"Your parents call you that." I scoffed. "How about Ryu?"_

_"Fine by me." Ryu laughed, placing his free hand over my cheek. So large yet comforting. I keen into the touch and cover his hand with mine, stroking it._

_"Can we kiss Ryu?" I quietly ask, as I bite my lip tentatively. Maybe I'm afraid he might reject my bold step?_

_"You don't need to ask." Ryu pulled me closer to him until our lips brush against each other-_

 

The door creaked open and Rin shot up, the bedsheets flailing everywhere.

"Oh! Sorry for waking you up, dear."  The nurse quietly apologised, closing the door softly so that the click wasn't too loud.

"No, no, it's okay Miss... I just had a weird dream." He raked a hand through his hair, still breathing awfully hard.

_What the actual fuck was that?! **Rin-rin**?!_

"It could be the medicine. It has a side effect of rather vivid imaginations."

"I don't think it was the medicine..." Rin mumbled, playing with the part of the blanket that hadn't dropped to the ground.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"I... I guess I'm good, except for that. My arms ache a little from yesterday but I don't feel an awful lot of pain."

"Good... Well your bruises and cuts seemed to have healed well." She gestured to his arms which Rin looked down at and turned them around, inspecting the healed skin.

"Want to talk about it? Your dream I mean."

"Ah, no I... I'd rather not."

"Not a problem." She stood up. "I'm going to go out for a few minutes and grab some lunch. Stay here and press the button to your left if you need anything at all."

And with that, she left the room.

 

_"Rin Okumura, you are to be excused for the duration of tomorrow's classes to allow sufficient time to tend to your physical injuries."_

 

 _Hah._ _I know well enough that I'm here **not** because of any 'physical healing' - my demonic healing can take care of that and they know it - but because they saw how messed up I must have looked yesterday._

_They just don't have the heart to say that out loud._

Rin had been awake most of the previous night, only having handheld console games and his thoughts to entertain him. Despite that, he was still rather charged up by the morning, more than able to go back to normal classes.

_Well, whatever. Guess I can enjoy my day off._

The events of the other day filled his pondering mind now that he had the chance to actually _think_ about it.

_I'm still so confused by it all._

Suguro and him had turned into quite good friends at this point in time - _that_ , he didn't need confirmation on; he already knew they got on more than well. Stretching it, he could consider him a best friend, even - and in fact, he _did._

_But Shima's comment..._

_...What if we took that further?_

It wasn't an idea that repulsed him, but neither did it fully appeal to him.

What would happen if they got together? Would it even work? _Sure, we might get on well now but we still argue often. Without it, it's weird. Though, that might be a good argue, like it's part of our relationship._

_Relationship..._

Rin knew, better enough, that being in a relationship with the guy meant giving his constant love and attention to him. _We rarely even touch. I swear he hates touching. How are we supposed to jump to constant holding hands, hugging - and kissing?!_

He tugged on his hair, frustrated.

His mind felt cloudy and he wanted no more than to have it cleared, to figure out what all this over-analysis meant.

_I need to see Suguro._

His sudden desire came so quickly and unprecedently. Why it did, he hadn't worked out yet. _But I want answers. I **need** answers._

Following on that thought, he flung the blanket off the rest of his body and clambered off the bed, slipping into his boots which gave a small squelch - _why are they so wet- oh, shit. They haven't dried yet._ He stood, a dull ache returning to his legs and chest. His white, or more accurately light grey, shirt, tie and jacket were thrown onto the chair from last night, and his trousers hung over the back in an attempt to dry them off. A small odour still lingered on it as Rin picked up all the individual pieces. Fortunately, it wasn't too off-putting, and feeling the fabric throughout, at least the mess had completely dried up.  _I should probably wash this anyway._ He bundled the clothes into a tight ball and sneaked past Kuro who was curled up and sound asleep - _hah, some guard he is -_ and left the infirmary.

He tiptoed down the hall, careful to not get caught. It was only then, that he realised that, despite his clothes having ample time to dry, he still hadn't cleaned his skin since his accident. _Wait, can bacteria start growing on me if I don't wash?!_ He paused mid-step.

_Maybe I should take a quick shower._

It wasn't an ideal diversion, but he'd rather be clean and free from infection than risk, well, the opposite. All because of carelessness.

 

* * *

 

Rin began stripping off his clothes as soon as he closed the door to the bathhouse. He kicked off his boots - he was thankful he had a moment to be free from the uncomfortably cold and rather disgusting sodden wool of the insides - and carried them along with his black pants, underwear and towel, which had for once been conveniently hanging in the shower room, and headed into his preferred shower cubicle.

 _Safe zone._ He didn't shower nearly as often as he was supposed to, but he always felt safe whenever he pulled the shower curtain and enclosed himself in the four walls. It was a reasonable size - fit enough for more than one person to fit, definitely - and after trailing a shower in all of the cubicles, he had come to like this specific one the most.

Having two people use the entire dorm, of course, had huge advantages. No doubt, one of them was the fact that there would be little mess in the bathrooms, since the only ones accountable for those would be the one who last used it. Sharing bathrooms with multiple people mean that they wouldn't be able to keep their personal belongings there for minimal transport the next time they'd require to wash themselves. With only him and his brother using them, this allowed Rin to have the shower personalised for him. The settings were left to exactly the temperature he enjoyed the water to be at, along with it being acceptable to leave his shower slippers there and products from companies of preference.

He twisted the metal knob and allowed himself a minute to let the warm droplets hit him and run down the entirety of his body. He slid his eyes shut and tilted his head up, to the side and back, letting the streams diverge across his face and neck. The water was warm, comforting and pleasant. It was a great feeling to temporarily escape from everyone else and soak in welcoming warmth. This process, anyone would have had to experience uncountable times in their life - that is, if they kept themselves hygienic - but especially as of now, it still never lost its exhilarating sensation.

But, as said before, it was only _temporary_.

_Ten minutes max, Rin._

He picked up the clothes and boots that he had dropped on the floor and ran them under the hose until he deemed them soaked enough. He wrung the items and scrubbed with a soap bar, over and over, wanting to get the smell out as much as he can. He'd rather it smelt overdosed with lavender than the distinct smell of... well, ammonia. He rinsed the soap off and repeated the process once more, for good measure before hanging his trousers and underwear on the peg in the shower and throwing his boots over the door.

Pushing the hose to one side, he reached out to the bottle of shower gel, squeezed out a large dollop onto his hand and created a foamy lather between his two palms. He began to lather the gel from hand to shoulder first, then to neck and chest, his back, middle and down his legs. He paid particular attention to his genitals and inner thighs, scrubbing them over and over vigorously until it burned from friction and tints of red showed up on the skin.

 _This is the second time this year, this freaking **term**_ , _this has happened. I thought I was done with accidents and oh, as soon as I go back to school, it starts all over again._

_It's all ever since I met- No, what? How can I even say that? I can't blame Suguro for this. He's been nothing but nice and helpful about it. Even the first time too._

He ran his fingertips over his stomach. _For once, I thought things will get better. It wouldn't happen again and I wouldn't have to feel this embarrassment all over again. Come on, you're a teenager! No other fifteen year old person... pisses their pants..._

He turned the hose back to him and let the lather wash down his body.

_Maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. After all, I actually **have** an issue._

_I should find out how other people usually hold. I can start with Suguro. Didn't he say he usually waited until he got back to his room after the school day to use the bathroom? That probably takes a lot of effort. Maybe he has strong muscles down there too..._

_Hold on._ The person of subject reminded him that he still had another pressing matter to deal with.

_I'm gonna be late!_

Rin rinsed the rest of the gel off him and hastily turned off the shower. He dried himself and slipped on his slippers. With the same towel, he wrapped it around his waist and dashed out of the showers and back to his room.

After changing into decent clothes, Rin ran his towel over his head and ruffled it for about ten seconds before deeming it dry enough to not catch a cold. He threw it on his bed to deal with later on that day.

 _Please tell me I still have time..._ He briefly caught the time on the clock in their room. _3:31. Okay. Good. But I need to get out of here now!_ He quickly ran his comb over his dishevelled hair with a few strokes, slammed the comb on one of the desks - which was probably Yukio's, judging on the side of the room he was on and knowing he'll be mad about that but not caring enough - and bolted out.

_What class do we even have now? I'm pretty sure it's cram school now, but is it physical or..?_

The sun shone through one of the windows in the corridor and Rin stilled in his spot, shading his eyes. He momentarily peered out of the window once the glare lessened and caught a familiar-looking group of students in purple gym tracksuits.

_There they are._

Rin lingered a look at the blonde-streaked and ear-pierced student stood in the centre in particular for a few moments before snapping out of it, taking a few steps back and bolting down the stairs.

  _Don't. Move. I'm coming._

 

* * *

 

The rest of the class stood around the perimeter of the playground, working to improve their fitness in physical class.

They had been practicing with another low-levelled demon - just like with the Reaper earlier on in the academic year - and it had now reached Suguro's turn to practice with it. He had it chase him initially for a few good minutes which wasn't much of a challenge since he outran it for practically the entire time. It felt empty somewhat not to have a rival running alongside this time, so he stopped.

Just as Suguro was about to try a new fatal verse he had memorised on the demon, he was interrupted by Yukio's urgent voice.

"Rin!! You should not be here! You should be taking rest in the infirmary like we... instructed you... to..?" His voice trailed as Rin was distinctly not registering a word he was saying, far too occupied in _elsewhat_.

Rin scanned the place for Suguro and when locating him bang in the middle, locked his eyes onto him firmly like a shooting target, his resolve strong.

To be frank, he had no idea what he was even going to do or even _say_ , but he allowed his uncontrollable body to press forward and continue walking. He figured he'd come up with something in the next few seconds.

Rin stopped walking when he was directly in front of Suguro.

"Okumura, what's wro-" Suguro started, taking note of Rin's unreadable expression - the one time he can't even begin to tell what was up. He was stopped abruptly.

Rin stretched his hands upwards, two warm palms cupping the older's rough, stubbled cheeks and tilting his head down to meet Rin's deep sapphire eyes.

A determined, serious expression filled Rin's face which opposed Suguro's slightly surprised and perplexed one.

 

Closing his eyes, he hastily closed the gap between their faces and pressed his lips against Suguro's.

It was a sloppy - quite a sloppy - kiss and when it finally hit Rin on _what the hell he was doing_ , he immediately pulled away, bewildered, and kept his gaze fixed downwards.

_No, no, no!! What?! I wasn't supposed to do that!!_

Ifnot for a split second, Rin had accidently caught Suguro's reaction - one of complete shock and a face flushing pink, not out of exercise.

It burned in Rin's mind.

Once Suguro's brain caught up with it all, he finally spoke up.

"W-what the hell, Okumura?! I-"

Rin simply turned around, cutting Suguro off. His gaze was still planted downwards, not even wanting to think of what everyone else had looked like, standing there utterly flabbergasted at what Rin could barely comprehend he did himself. Probably.

Rin swivelled on his heel and sped off.

"No wait!" Suguro softly pleaded, stretching his hand out, purposefully. He clenched it back, exhaling hard through gritted teeth. All eyes followed Rin's wobbly form as he disappeared from sight.

Then, they all slowly turned to Suguro, the victim, faces arisen with various levels of shock, confusion, questioning and even amusement.

It took himself a few seconds to gain actual articulation, his eyes darting between all the stares.

"S-stop starin' at me! I don't know what the fuck even just happened..."

"Whaaaat... the actual fuck was that?!" was all that was heard from Shima before the group broke out into a series of all kinds of questions.

"Seems like someone has the hots for Suguro!"

"Yo, Okumura's gay?"

"That was disgusting. Why in the middle of class as well?"

"I didn't know Okumura was gay! What figures."

"Well it's news to me!"

"Rin is so bold..."

It took them some calming before everyone could be silenced. They were dismissed for the day, seeing as it was almost the end, anyway, and everyone was too buzzed to cooperate.

As soon as they had headed inside, however, they started out again.

 

"Shit, man, I don't know what happened!!!" Suguro exclaimed, his voice rising more than ever as he repeated himself for the umpteenth time. _I. just. don't. fucking. know!_

"And you're absolutely **positive** you've never said anything about any of this to Okumura before?"

"YES!! He didn't say anything about-ARGH!" He let out another irritated groan whilst he slipped on his school shirt, changing into his uniform.

"Shima, don't overwhelm Bon..."

 _...Could it have been something I said to him earlier?_ Shima thought.

 

Rin sprinted all the way back to the infirmary, ignoring the pain in his legs, almost stepping on Kuro, who had now woken up by the sound of Rin's boots plummeting down the corridor.

He sprang into the bed, diving his burning face face-first into the pillow. He brought his clenched fists up and crashed them down into the pillow.

"...Just what the fuck have I done?" he mumbled into the pillow.

 _This_ was a question he had no idea how to answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST KISS!!!!! :D *opens party poppers* WOO!  
> The BonRin has begun! To celebrate, I decided to include some fanart (sketched by me of course). I hope they look alright. Drawing kisses is always so tough, especially two guys... It's here on tumblr too. https://sugarbubbles2000.tumblr.com/post/163907642576/okumura-whats-wro-suguro-started-taking-note
> 
> I added in the self aftercare as a sort of last-minute thing - justomorashitrash (my omo girl) - gave me the idea to do so, and she knows how much I ADORE good aftercare.  
> I've also written a 7.5 chapter which can be read on part two of this series 'Allurextras'. It's like a fun little break from the current series but still compliant with some of the issues faced. You'll get what I mean if you read it.
> 
> See you next week! c:


	8. Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least, now he was allowed a chance to voice his thoughts.
> 
> "My brother is... perhaps a little confused about his sexuality at this moment. Not that there isn't anything common with this; I'm sure you all know people our age who are going through orientation crises just like this. We've all had, or will, go through our own personal exploration.
> 
> For once, Yukio actually spoke of the others as people his age.
> 
> "That being said, instead of making fun of him-" he shot a quick glance at Shima for emphasis. "-You should all try to support him, at the least, not ostracise him for his curiosity. If you can't offer him that, offer him space. I'm certain, sooner or later, he will figure himself out. He just needs time." He momentarily paused, wetting his lips. "This goes to the rest of the class as well. Give yourself time and you'll figure out who you identify as."

Permission to be excused from class lasted until the following morning. After then, Rin was expected to attend normal classes.

First period, an hour before normal school started, was scheduled as a catch-up cram school session. And, in a way, Rin was rather glad at being allowed to not need to be there. The thought of having to answer some inevitable questions was simply unbearable.

The majority of the exorcist staff were, due to shortage, sent off under investigation concerning Amaimon's sudden appearance after having disappeared for a short unexplained while. Mephisto, of course, was being entirely unhelpful and so they set it on themselves to do an independent investigation. Because of this, and the fact he was luckily available, the younger of the Okumuras was tasked to cover the period with whatever he deemed appropriate.

Save for a few murmurs among the other exwires, the classroom was relatively quiet.

Yukio cleared his throat, sounding for their attention.

"Morning class. How is everybody today?" He greeted loudly and kindly, as he usually did.

Various mumbles of "good", "alright" and "fine" came in response.

Well, except for one.

"Kinda confused... Mr Okumura, could you care to give an explanation about that gay-ass brother of-"

"SHIMA!" Yukio cut him off before he could spew whatever unnecessary opinions he would have offered to the rest of the class. "You do not use those kinds of words in a derogatory manner, let me remind you..."

He sighed. Of course, he was more than well aware that some members would be in a little shock over the public act of affection displayed the day before. Though he had tried to avoid the subject... well, here they were.

For once, Yukio had considered talking to Rin about it. He had walked himself right up to the infirmary door but he couldn't bring himself to push the door open and have out with it. He didn't even know what he was going to say. It's nothing knew that he knew just as much as the other person about the subject and so he surmised that Rin wouldn't even want to talk about it. After hovering outside for a moment, he turned round and went back to their dormitory building.

At least, now he was allowed a chance to voice his thoughts.

"My brother is... perhaps a little confused about his sexuality at this moment. Not that there isn't anything common with this; I'm sure you all know people our age who are going through orientation crises just like this. We've all had, or will, go through our own personal exploration.

For once, Yukio actually spoke of the others as people his age.

"That being said, instead of making fun of him-" he shot a quick glance at Shima for emphasis. "-You should all try to support him, at the least, not ostracise him for his curiosity. If you can't offer him that, offer him space. I'm certain, sooner or later, he will figure himself out. He just needs time." He momentarily paused, wetting his lips. "This goes to the rest of the class as well. Give yourself time and you'll figure out who you identify as."

He picked up a pile of sheets from his desk. "Now, onto the lesson."

 

* * *

 

The bell had rang, marking the end of the day, at least twenty minutes prior. Ample time had passed between then and now, yet not all of the math students that occupied the room for their final lesson of the day had left the room.

Rin had attempted at packing his textbook and exercise book - that were barely touched that lesson, not that they were actively used by the young exorcist on a normal day, but were less so on that day - into his bag that lay stretched in front of him. He sat in silence, save for the faint noises, not uncommon, of a mixture of first, second and third years hanging around campus after a long day. He could catch odd bits and bobs of conversation that was screeched loud enough by the vibrant teenagers to drift into his ear from out the window.

He rocked back in his chair, balancing it on the back legs, and tilted his head back. The classroom momentarily darkened from casts of cloud blocking the sunrays and it was noticeable enough for Rin to glance over. It only served him as a reminder that he'd been here long enough, just... sitting alone. The bundle of energy he usually seemed to have subsided, barely enough to bring him to stand up and actually leave. School was over, he didn't need to stay any longer.

He didn't feel like leaving his seat, though.

Shiemi, having finished her cleaning duty for that day, was also still inside the school. She scurried down the maths corridor, trying to locate Rin. _I didn't see him leave his classroom after maths was over... Is he still around?_

So caught up in her thoughts, she almost missed the room where he was sat in. She took a few steps back and peered in. Sure enough, there he was. She watched him exhale forcefully, a pen being continiously but lazily spun between his fingers. As she read his relaxed expression, she picked up on that it seemed his mind was elsewhere _but_ in that head of his. His idle gazing around settled on the voices from the only opened window in the room, as he gently swayed in his seat.

_Should I speak to him..?_

She almost walked right past for the second time but had stopped herself before she fully did.

**_"You should all try to support him in the very least."_ **

She was reminded of what Yukio had said earlier. Knowing him well, whenever he had something bothering him, it would seem to eat him up and it would usually be her who'd listen to him to get it out of his system.

It was different this time, though.

This was something much more personal and she could instantly feel that; otherwise he would have come straight to her about it. However, he didn't. She wanted to help, she really did, but it was the question of whether _she_ was the right person to talk to him that had her debating on the spot.

_Maybe I should just-_

She clenched her fists in front of her chest. No. _I can't run off like I did after the forest camping trip. Rin needs someone to talk to and if nobody else will, I will! He's been so kind to me and it's time to offer it back. What's the meaning of friendship for people who don't?_

Even if she did, admittedly, have absolutely no experience on the certain subject.

Grounded on her resolve, she spun on her heel and walked into the classroom, full of determination.

"Hey Rin!" Shiemi exclaimed, pulling the biggest smile she could on her face. _Just like Rin would!_

 _Jesus!_ Her voice almost startled him. "Ah, Shiemi! H-hi..." He tried to mirror a somewhat large grin himself, just like the one Shiemi was holding, but found it a little difficult to do. _You could fake a grin well before, what's wrong now?_

"Are you feeling better now that you've taken some rest?"

"You bet! I feel good as new!" He pumped two fists in front of him for dramatic effect.

"Ah, that's great!"

Silence briefly settled over them.

"So how were your class-"

"Listen, about yes-"

They both started and paused upon realising they were talking over each other.

"Uh, you go first."

Shiemi gazed down at her shoes, grazing the side of one against the other. "Oh... I was going to say that, if you need anyone to talk to, I'll always be here." Her fingers curled into the ends of her skirt. "Tod-today. Yuki said you were confused and we should give you some time to figure things out. I... I may not know what you're going through, but if you need someone to talk it out with, I am always happy to listen to you!" With that, she lifted her gaze and gave Rin a reassuring smile. That sweet smile being one of the many things he liked about her. Times like this were a reminder that he's got it bad for not only one friend but two.

_How am I supposed to respond to that? Just say 'Thank you' and walk off?_

Was Shiemi even the right person to confide into? Sure, she was a friend, _his_ friend. That was established. Still...

_It might help me relieve some stress._

"Thank you Shiemi. So much. Yeah, I guess I'm a little confused about it all, heh." He forced himself to chuckle. Shiemi stayed quiet, listening. "L-let's sit down for a bit, then?" He gestured to a chair, beckoning her to join him. With a nod, she came closer and dropped her bag on the floor. She helped with placing his bag down next to hers, so the desk wasn't as full. She swivelled the chair tucked into the desk in front of him and perched, facing him. She rested her hand on Rin's desk and he almost, _almost_ instinctively reached out and grabbed her hand when he chastised internally for his body running on its own accord. _Think about the **subject** of this conversation!! _ He would have slapped his hand but, acknowledging how disturbing that would look from Shiemi's side, making him look more and more like he was going insane, he didn't. He chose to clench his fist momentarily, digging his nails into his palm until small marks were imprinted on his skin.

After prodding his fangs into his tongue for a while, Rin drew a heavy sigh, tentative.

_Here goes..._

"You probably have loads of questions to ask... I'll try my best to answer."

"Rin... you don't have to tell me everything." As much as she would like to have her personal questions answered, she knew better than to overwhelm her friend with interrogation. "Just tell me everything you're comfortable with." She briefly smiled.

"Okay... Well you know WHAT I did, I'm sure you saw that. I puckered up Suguro. Where? In front of the fucking class, that's what."

Shiemi flinched at Rin's cursing, personally finding explicit swearing a little uncomfortable. She reminded herself quietly that this was a part of Rin so she tolerated it.

Not noticing Shiemi, he pressed on.

He didn't seem in a mood to want to stop rambling.

"Could've chosen a better place but I was out of it, really. Why? I-I haven't a fucking clue. It started from thinking _'Hey, I badly need to see Suguro'_ to... this _kissing_ thing. _'Let's give him a good ol' kiss, that'll work out great.'_  , which I probably thought would help me figure out if I liked him like that or not. Clearly, it did jackshit. And now I'm even more frustrated."

Shiemi kept quiet, intently listening.

"...How do you feel about Suguro?"

"Suguro, he's... he's a great guy. I'm happy to call him a good friend. Nah, scratch that, he's a best friend at this point. He's helped me so much with my, er... y'know, _issue_ , and I have to thank him for getting me this far. Like, so much. I guess what I mean is... I like him as a friend. But more than that? I'm not sure." Rin glanced away in small thought. "I mean, he's totally been my man-crush since day one-"

"Ah, you have a crush on him?" She blurted out. She noticed his expression blank from her suddenness. She flushed. "S-sorry, continue." She sheepishly apologised for forgetting her manners and cutting him off.

"Uh, not exactly. It's kinda like, I thought he was super cool and attractive when I first saw him in our first week of cram school. I totally dug that rebellious look and punk vibe, y'know? But it was nothing serious." His face, that lit up a little as he talked fondly, lost that temporary excitement. "And now? I'm super close to him and I'm confused on if it's just the fact we're so close or if I'm starting to have a legit crush on him."

"Do you know what Suguro thinks about you?"

_What he thinks about me?_

Rin paused momentarily. _That... is a good question. What **does** he think?_

"Well..." Rin clucked his tongue, filling the space of thought. "I guess he thinks of me as a good friend. Maybe not a best friend, 'cause he's got Shima and Konekomarou who are much closer to him than I am. But now, pff, I wouldn't be surprised if he hates me again."

"What? Why would he hate you, Rin?"

" _Oh, fuck, I haven't a clue._ Maybe because I pushed a boundary and now he's all confused and annoyed at me?!"

"...That's not what I mean, Rin. I may not know Suguro like you do, but I-I don't think he hates you. Maybe he just wants an explanation."

"But I don't _have_ one! I wasn't thinking and I wish I hadn't gone and kissed him like that." He pulled on his navy hair, a closed-mouth grunt vibrating deep from his throat as he planted his head into the desk in frustration.

Shiemi placed a dubious hand on his shoulder. He twitched, feeling his face flush. "I think you should talk to him."

"...And say what to him?" Rin mumbled dejectedly into the wood.

"Just... tell him how you feel." He could feel warmth from her fingertips, yet there was uncertainty in her touch. She kept her fingers as they were, slowly rubbing his shoulder in encouragement. "Tell him what you told me. Give him some time first, m-maybe not right now. But it's not fair to leave him in the dark for too long."

Rin lifted his head up, the rosy blush still strong. Shiemi was doing her best to help him. _Damn, she's giving me some good advice!_

_...But should I take it?_

"Oi, we need to clean up in here." A voice of a first year female interrupted their conversation. Fingers clutched the frame of the door as her head popped round the side of the classroom door, her short hair hanging down softly. When they turned round, they were met with a familiar face.

The girl's face lit up. "Oh hey, Moriyama and Okumura! It's you guys!"

"Haven't seen you in a while. Paku, right?" Rin grinned.

She playfully clicked and finger gunned him. "Yep! I'm sorry I left the cram school, I just couldn't really keep up with all the work. Izumo told me you guys are now Exwires! That's so awesome!"

"Thanks, Paku! We miss you being around."

"Yeah, shame. I'm just not fit to be an exorcist." She shrugged non-chalantly. "Izumo sometimes mentions you two, but all good things, don't worry!"

Another student's voice down the corridor addressed to her and she momentarily glanced away. "Okay, okay I got it." She turned back to them. "Aaaanyway, I'd love to talk all day but I've got cleaning duty. You should get going."

"Yeah, we were just about to leave." Rin looked over to Shiemi, then her hand, which was still resting on his shoulder. She withdrew them, and Rin tried not to show how he missed the warmth immediately after she did that. He covered the act by standing, tucking his chair in and swinging his bag over his shoulder. She did likewise.

Neither of them noticed Paku's eyebrow arch and a bemused expression worn on her features. _Those two, huh? I'm still rooting for him and that Suguro guy to happen, pronto..._

She lowered the slight smirk when they approached closer.

"Thanks, Shem." He gave her arm a friendly squeeze. "That was really helpful. I'll keep it in mind." He said as the two walked to the door. Rin fist-bumped both girls, eliciting a giggle from Paku. The brown-haired student slipped past them, now carrying a broomstick and large dustpan in both hands.  "Uh, I've got a few things to do so I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yep! Bye Rin!" She waved, pulling another sweet smile before walking their own ways; Shiemi going to her family shop and Rin... well not anywhere particularly planned. _I'll just go to our dorm, I guess._

Or, at least that was what Shiemi was intending to, but Paku called out for her.

"Moriyama~ You weren't thinking of just walking off and not talking to me, were you?"

Rin heard Shiemi quietly giggle, cutely, so cutely that made him stop walking. "O-oh, no! W-what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Soo..." There was a pause and Rin reasoned it was to listen out for his footsteps. Realising he shouldn't be eavesdropping in other people's conversations, he walked on. "You still gonna say Rin's a friend or what?"

"He is! He always has been!"

"Oh yeah, and friends hang out in classrooms way after school's ended."

"I was just talking to him, that's all..."

Their voices gradually came quieter with distance.

 

Not much had been cleared up than what he already knew, but he couldn't deny how _glad_ he felt now that he's put his thoughts to words with someone. Shiemi, though she knew nothing of the subject of crushes, was a great help in her own way. _She really is something._

"...I'll eventually talk to him about it." He murmured, to nobody in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guest appearance of Paku! :D I miss her, she's so sweet!  
> I think we all gotta commend Yukio for those wise words for a moment here!! *intense clapping* Warming my LGBT+ heart c:  
> As a side note: Rin's dealing with two crushes at the moment. One on a special blonde tamer and one on... well, do I even need to say at this point? :p
> 
> Onwards to next week! See ya~


	9. Response

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was then he realised:  _This is the closest we've been since Okumura kissed me..._ He was barely managing to comprehend that even happened. He didn't know a thing about love - despite what one may think, considering he'd been out with a few girls in middle school - which may have been a reason why he was avoiding a direct confrontation.
> 
> To say that Rin was likely just as inexperienced was accurate enough for Rin to also not be direct about just about _anything_ concerned with his feelings.
> 
> Suguro felt guilty. Guilty for many reasons but the one that was felt so prominently in this moment was that he hadn't fully responded to Rin yet. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to - he was the one to face his problems right off the bat and preferred to waste less time dwelling and more time resolving. No, instead, the issue was exactly _what_  to say. _How_ he would say, when the opportunity to do so would arrive.
> 
> {New OC. Warnings of some harassment/touching. No non-con though, don't worry.}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE HAVE SURPASSED FIFTY KUDOS AND ONE THOUSAND HITS!!! Thank you, all!! <33 I couldn't be any more happier with the support!  
> Super long chapter this time. To give an idea, Chapter 1 was 20 sides in my notebook. This one is an astonishing **50**. (7k words)
> 
> Enjoy!

Following the next few days, both Rin and Suguro kept conversation to an unprecedented minimum. The undeniable reality was, to the both of them, that they just had  _no idea what the hell they were supposed to say to each other._ They still sat near each other, or near enough, in class and at lunch. That was a routine too regular to break before looking wholly suspicious. They weren't too near to deem uncomfortable or to allow the other an opportunity to ask the question, or question **s** that pressed on their mind.

Everytime they caught each other staring, Rin would immediately turn his head, covering the act with a scratch to the head or a rub to his neck.

The other reality was also that they so badly wanted to say something,  _anything,_ but couldn't push themselves to. Mulling over it everytime Suguro caught sight of Rin, remembering those lips crashing into his, if not for a few moments, spirals of questions running through his mind. He certainly wanted at least  _some_ of these questions answered and Rin certainly wanted to respond to him. A mutual decision was unknowingly made to just  _give the other some time, time until they built enough courage to face the other, confide and pour out the collections of thoughts from these few days._

 

An opportunity to do so landed themselves later that week.

The class was set on a small mission to help locate a human-like demon that had been sighted around school in the evening hours of the day. Student reports showed that it had only been a minor nuisance, poking around their belongings and dorms.

The class had been split up into pairs with Rin joining Konekomaru and Shima in a three as it was well known they couldn't afford him disappearing again.

The teachers would have otherwise paired Rin with Suguro - they surprisingly were a very practical pair, with Rin training to be a Knight and Suguro training to be an Aria, and Dragoon. This balanced the skills that an Exorcist pair would require on missions and effectively, it didn't end with just their friendship. However, due to the fact they were simply informed that  _something has happened between the two, and it is best that they were kept separate aside from necessary times._

Though Suguro was hesitant about not having Rin by his side, he didn't dispute. He knew he was more determined than ever to keep his special friend safe. Instead, he put faith in Konekomaru, the more responsible of the two, to look after Rin.

Before the teams set off, Suguro quickly grabbed Rin's forearm, pulling him close to him. "If you need to go, just tell them, okay?" He hushed in a low voice. "They'll understand-"

"Yeah, I already know. Get off my case." Rin retorted dismissvely. He wrung himself free of Suguro's grasp, face flushed pink, before Suguro could get another word out.

The three Exwires - that is, Rin, Shima and Koneko - patrolled around the school campus grounds, keeping an eye out for any suspicious movements that indicated signs of the demon. Silence enveloped the evening, save for their boots scuffling against the ground as they walked, the low voices of the other teams, and other True Cross Academy students enjoying their evening hours in the distance. In Koneko's hand, he gripped a small lantern to illuminate their pathway. Shima clutched onto his K'rik staff and the black strap of Rin's sheathed Kurikara hung loose on his shoulder. Every now and then, they broke the silence by one of the three claiming they heard something, only for it to be a false alarm from being over-sensitive. That was mainly Koneko's nerves vocalising themselves.

At various points, urges resonated in Rin's lower abdomen, gentle reminders that he ought to find a pitt stop soon. Seeing the impracticality of interrupting them mission and how there wasn't anywhere very suitable, or secluded, for him to relieve, he tried his best to ignore and push back the urges, his way of saying  _I'll deal with it later._

For now, it wasn't bad. He could walk reasonably normally without too much trouble, chewing on his lip everytime a small wave resounded. He wanted to whimper but reminded himself that he was in between two teenage friends so he fought the temptation to.

Naturally, with time, the urgencies became more prominent and, well... urgent. He pressed his thighs together a little tighter with every step. It wasn't bad enough to have to risk holding himself in front of two friends, but still growing on the desperation scale.

_God, I thought I was getting better at this, Maybe that fight hurt me a little more than I imagined._

He became aware that they had been edging around an area that seemed like a small forest for quite some while.

 _Should I go here?  This would be much easier with Suguro -_  Rin realised then that he took Suguro's presence for granted - _I don't even need to say anything._

Alas, the one time he  _wasn't_ with Suguro. It wasn't that they weren't already informed of his situation - not the current one, the medical one - so _what_ was it that he was finding so difficult to come out with?

He quietly groaned, both out of his self-vexing and of desperation as another strong wave hit him. This time he stopped walking altogether, fidgeting on the spot.

_Damn, I can't keep this up much longer!_

"Can't keep what?" Shima curiously asked and Rin immediately realised he slipped his thought out loud. He glanced up to see two faces staring back in concern with him slightly hunched forward, fingers curled into the sides of his trousers.

Rin straightened up to the best of his ability, darting his eyes between the two. "I, uh... I need..."

_Calm down! Just be out with it, dammit!_

"I need to use the bathroom. Like, badly."

"Ohh, _right_. Is that all?"

"Y-yeah." He shifted his gaze around the area, focusing on a group of trees. "Could we stop for a minute and I'll go over there..." He nodded in the direction and started wandering.

"Hey, don't go too far away, okay?"

"A-at least let one of us come with you." Koneko blurted without thinking.

"Why? That's a bit weird... I wanna have some privacy!" The thought of having one of his friends in the vicinity of clearing seeing the stream and hearing the goddamn hissing mixed in with his sighs of relief - well, he wouldn't hesitate to jump off a cliff right after.

"It's just that I told Bon we wouldn't leave you out of our sight. Something could happen and we'd be in big-"

Koneko yelped and the three heard a rumble, followed by a tree crashing down, separating Rin from the Kyoto duo.

 _Oh fuck!_ Shima raked a few panicked fingers through his pink locks.

"O-Okumura! Are you okay?!" Koneko cried out, eyes widened.

In response, Rin could be heard yelling "LET ME GO!!", along with scraping of his boots against the ground as he was dragged away.

"Okumura!" Koneko turned to Shima. "We need to go after him!"

"At your tail." He responded, extending his K'rik that he temporarily packed away.

The two Arias-in-training ran around the tree barrier. Koneko fumbled around with the radio speaker, activated it and pressed it to his mouth.

"Mr Okumura! Green team, Miwa speaking. Someone's taken Okumura and gone off with him, over!"

_Not. this. again!_

_{"Green team, Miwa. Okumura Y speaking. Where was he last seen? Over."}_

"We were walking at the outskirts of the campus, near the forest area. He said he needed to relieve himself and then a tree came between us. I-I'm sorry Mr Okumura!! It just happened! Over."

 _{"There's no time for that, Miwa. Whatever has him must be the demon."}_  A click reverberated to indicate all lines had been tuned in. _{"Everyone, we have located the demon. Meet us at Miwa and Shima's location on your devices. All teams, do you copy?"}_

Various "copy"ies were heard from each of the teams.

 

Within a few minutes, all of the Exwires straggled to the meeting point.

"H-how are we supposed to find him? Rin, I mean." Shiemi stammered, surveying the area.

Yukio lightly smirked. "Shouldn't be too hard, don't you think Moriyama? Think visual and audio."

If Rin's distinctly blue flames and overbearing vocalisation had an advantage, it was that he would be  _very_ easily located, especially in the dark.

 

* * *

 

Rin was taken deep enough into the forest and was pinned subsequently against one of the dark alpine trees.

"What do you want?" He inquired, as he grabbed the demon's arm, or an organ similar to that, which was pushed into his chest.

"Are you really... the  _Prince?"_

That title.

He hated that title.

"Y-yeah? What about it?" Rin didn't let his guard down despite no real threat shown. He gripped the arm tighter, still.

"The flames..?"

"I'll prove it." He let go of the arm and slipped the Kurikara strap from his shoulder to forearm. He uncovered it and unsheathed the sword until it was halfway exposed. Light peeked out and he was encompassed in small but vibrant cerulean flames.

"Can I see... more..?"

Wordlessly, he unsheathed further, the flames growing in size.

"My... they're just as beautiful as Master's." Breathlessly, the arm stretched to touch one of the flames which curved and danced around her hand.

"Just who are you?" Rin looked up from his sword and was about to sheathe when he caught sight of the figure in front of him. To that, he gasped.

At least there were a few features of a human to make it somewhat pleasant to look at - which wasn't very much so in the first place. Though, the two eyes that were a little wider apart than normal were a familiar shade of green. Mid-long, soft blonde hair ran down to its shoulders. Or, _her_ shoulders, so it seemed.

"You look like my-"

"Shiemi? Your crush? Yeah, I guess so. No real reason; I'm not even related to her. And, yeah, I'm also half demon or something to that extent, if you were wondering. More demon and less human." She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear-like organ. "Enough about me. Let's focus more on you..." She reached out her fingers to stroke Rin's cheek. He darted his head away, avoiding her touch. She pulled back, somewhat disappointed. "You're magnificent." She mumbled.

"Why are you here?"

"Well... Up until now, I've wanted nothing else but to meet you. You see, I was... obsessed with your father. You could say I was infatuated. Completely in love with him. I've been working hard to get to a stage where I can meet him. All until the day I found out that he had another son. Had  _you._ "

She removed her hand from Rin's chest, no longer feeling the need to, now that she had his attention and was not intending on attacking her anytime soon.

"News had spread, like fire really, of him being able to meet you. I'm sure you remember that day more than anyone else. I then turned away from Master and focused on finding out everything I could about his new son. Name, age, appearance, powers, everything... I even took the trouble of learning Japanese and English so I could understand you when the time came. When I found out you were a half-demon, half-human like me, who was a similar age too... I became ecstatic." She briefly counted on her fingers.  "In Assian years I would be somewhere around seventeen years and two months of age. I yearned for the day I could meet you. To breathe the same air, to feel your touch, to smell your scent... So, I began looking for a good opportunity to do so after years of preparing."

"You chose today."

"I heard your class were sent to look out for me. I located you and followed you around the whole evening, waiting. I knocked that tree by accident but I took the chance before I lost it. The product of that... well, leads us to where we are now."

She snaked her arms around Rin's neck, gripping his shirt collar.

"No, let go!"

"But now? I think I want us to get to know each other a little better."

Her hands ran down the sides of Rin's chest. They were stopped by two hands gripping her wrists and attempting to pull them away. With some strength, she managed to break free of his grasp and reached her hand out to Rin's tail. Her fingers stroked the length of his extra appendage, her touch cold but delicate and calloused. Nobody had ever touched it like that and it sent a shiver down his spine. It was strange, foreign but weakening. He winced.

"Sensitive, isn't it..."

"Don't, n-no..." He quietly begged for her to stop but shivered more when her fingers danced around the silky surface, prodding and stroking like she had rehearsed it. Her hands gently tickled the fluffy ends, sending tingling sensations across the hairs on his skin, almost like goose bumps.

Her other hand tampered with his shirt hem before a finger was raised all the way up the middle, popping all the buttons open. With one yank, she ripped and unravelled his tie.

"Let go of me, Shiemi!"

_No, hold on. This girl looks like Shiemi, but she isn't. She'd never do something like this!_

Rin, feeling her nail scratch into his skin when she ripped his shirt open, shoved her off him. In reflex, her other hand gripped tightly onto his tail. Rin yelped and was kept in place. She knocked Rin onto the ground and clambered over him. His tail flopped around, protesting, but unable to push her off him while she pinned his wrists down with her own tail.

"I'm very honoured to have been nicknamed the same as your- AAH!"

" **GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM OKUMURA!!**"

Deep, loud shots fired from the side, riveting and shooting through her chest. Rin lifted his head up to see the source, bewildered, which was a just as bewildered, out of breath and rage-infested Suguro heaving at a distance. His bazooka had been clumsily attached on his shoulders. Five figures scrambled behind him to catch up.

Suguro must have seen what she did and, without thinking, shot firearms.

The girl jumped onto her feet and scampered away from both teens. She mustn't had been paying attention to where she shot off because she ended up running directly into Shima's arms. He dropped his K'rik and wrapped his arms around her back, interlocking his fingers. She struggled in his tight hold, her breath erratic and uneven from the exhilaration.

"Into my arms, that's the right idea. Got you my fair lady~ <3"

Some habits just die hard, even in the middle of a fight.

"Keep her there Shima!" Koneko ordered.

"I have no intention of letting her go! Now, why don't you relax a bit, huh? Nothing to worry about, I'm a nice guy..." He gently walked her towards the group.

Since then, Suguro had dashed over to Rin, Yukio following him alongside. Rin was now stood up, albeit wobbling. Suguro wrapped his arms around Rin ferociously, almost desperately. His fingers tightly clutched the back of Rin's shirt and he pulled Rin down to crouch with him.

"You're okay. It's okay. I'm here. We're here. You're okay. You're o...kay." Suguro whispered, repeating like a mantra.

Yukio was about to approach his brother but something about the way Suguro held Rin so intensely had him rooted in spot, unable to proceed further than he already was.

_This is really happening, huh?_

Suguro's hands trailed to Rin's collar, pulling the two slightly apart. He glared, more like gazed, into the other's absent-minded eyes.

It was then he realised:  _This is the closest we've been since Okumura kissed me..._ He was barely managing to comprehend that even happened. He didn't know a thing about love - despite what one may think, considering he'd been out with a few girls in middle school - which may have been a reason why he was avoiding a direct confrontation.

To say that Rin was likely just as inexperienced was accurate enough for Rin to also not be direct about just about _anything_ concerned with his feelings.

Suguro felt guilty. Guilty for many reasons but the one that was felt so prominently in this moment was that he hadn't fully responded to Rin yet. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to - he was the one to face his problems right off the bat and preferred to waste less time dwelling and more time resolving. No, instead, the issue was exactly _what_  to say. _How_ he would say, when the opportunity to do so would arrive.

He thought, a lot more often than he'd like to, about the kiss. Whenever he'd see Rin, he would be reminded of those lips locked onto his, if not for a few moments. Those eyes of intense fear following after had him consider that  _Okumura possibly did it accidently,_ that _perhaps he wasn't thinkin' straight._

_That can't be right though. It just felt so..._

**_Genuine._ **

_It was like he had intended to in the first place._

Suguro may have kissed only a few people in his life but even he knew, nobody kisses like that by accident.

Nobody kisses  **with feeling** like that.

Rin's eyes were just as locked on Suguro's, but his gaze didn't spell alert. They seemed to be looking right through him, indicative of his mind being elsewhere.

 _Come on, snap out of it!_ He gently jostled Rin by the shirt collar.

Suguro became visibly aware that he had inched to Rin's face so close that only a few centimetres measured out between the tips of their noses.

It was then that he'd made the split-second decision to lean in, close his eyes and that distance, returning that kiss from last week... with one of his own.

 

The sensation of Suguro's soft, moisturised, sweet lips brought Rin back to reality and he froze in place. His eyes widened as he tried to piece together what was happening.

_He's-he's kissing me!_

There, that. That was his response. An actual response, there and then. A kiss. Kissing.

 _It feels so... different from last time._ He didn't know if it was a good different.  _Maybe this is what a kiss is supposed to be like._ _He probably has more experience._

It was still less rehearsed, more... spontaneous. 'In the moment', one could put it.

Suguro slowly pulled away when he felt Rin squeak against him. He lifted his hands to cradle Rin's face but decided against it, and instead placed them back on his back, drawing them closer to each other's chests. He rubbed his hands up and down, soothing the other, and buried his face in the paler neck. He could feel the young demon's pulse from his cheek pressed against it - thumping so rapidly it made Suguro genuinely concerned for a moment.

He stayed like that until he heard the scuffle of Yukio's shoe. If he didn't hear it, he would have otherwise stayed there. He'd just stay there, feeling Rin's warmth from skin-to-skin, inhaling Rin's scent - which seemed to be a mixture of flame soot and sweat - and the gentle rise and fall of Rin's albeit deep breathing, added in with the security of having him tight in his hold, protected, _safe_. He stood up, carrying Rin up to his feet as he did so. Rin remained in shock as he stared down at the ground, speechless.

From kiss to hold, the rest of the class had formed a small crowd behind Yukio, who had his hand stretched out behind him to stop them coming any closer, remaining quiet and wordless.

He lowered his hand and was the first to speak up.

"Moriyama, Kamiki. Could each of you take one of Rin's arms please?"

The two girls nodded and positioned Rin's arms around the napes of their neck. Koneko offered to carry Rin's Kurikara, which had been strewn on the side. He slipped it back into the fabric case and held the sword in his hands, almost cradling it.

The female demon, still in Shima's arms, became limp and fell unconscious from the shots.

"Uh, hey! Are you okay?" Shima glanced down in worry and shook her gently, to no response. He lifted her legs so now she was being carried bridal-style in his arms. Her hands held onto his shirt gently, the innocent gesture making him smile on the inside.

All seven students had walked to Rin and Yukio's dormitory building. Suguro pulled one of the chairs in the kitchen and the girls sat Rin on it. He mumbled a small "thank you", while Izumo grabbed a few cushions from the lounge room and handed to Rin to place against his back and prop himself. After ordering all the students to stay until he dismissed them, Yukio wasted no time and began searching across Rin's body for any injuries that hadn't healed from his exchange with the now resting demon. Suguro crouched at Rin's side, one hand placed on his forearm, the other curled around his wrist reassuringly. Yukio did not object.

Some deep cuts were identified on Rin's elbows which hadn't completely healed and were covered in dry blood. Shiemi was requested by the younger Okumura to provide some aid in the form of herbal ointments. She summoned Nee, her familiar, who sprouted a handful from its chest. Thanking her, Yukio began cleaning the wound and skin, while Shiemi prepared the next batch of ointment to be applied on the skin.

Rin was reminded of his still full bladder when another urgent wave thrashed in him. 

_Shit, I still need to go!_

He looked down at his hands.  _I can't hold myself... Suguro's got one of my hands 'n Yukio and Shiemi's treating my arm._ He bit his tongue, holding back a whine, and shifted ever so slightly on the seat, inconspicuously allowing himself some relief from the pressure. The wave still hadn't subsided, so he risked crossing one leg over the other and pressing his thighs down on the chair.

"Rin, keep your legs straight. We need to keep your circulation going.

Rin nodded and reluctantly uncrossed his legs, bringing them spread apart again.  _I don't need to be treated, I can heal just fine!_ He silently pleaded for them to hurry up and be done with it already. 

 _Don't panic. It'll be fine. I'll just... hold until they're done. Nothing to worry about._ He reassured himself. He gritted his teeth and forced as much willpower as he could into keeping his muscles clenched and his tract shut.

"Something the matter Rin? You're kinda tense..." Sheimi inquired, when feeling Rin stiffen under her fingertips.

"I'm fine-FUCK!"

A few spurts still managed to escape him and he shuddered as a small damp patch appeared on his inner thigh.

_No, please, not here..._

Rin clamped his thighs shut with a loud _slap_ , wrung himself out of Yukio, Shiemi and Suguro's hold and gripped onto his crotch for dear life. He hunched forward, jiggling his leg continuously and squeezed his eyes so tightly shut.

He continued to curse under his breath, praying to just about _any_ God there was, that no more would come out. He managed to cut the stream but it was ever so painful and in the back of his mind, he regretted doing so. Mixtures of whimpers and groans escaped his throat with no control.

Suguro instantly stood up and grabbed Rin's shoulders.

"Come on, go to the bathroom-"

" _Ah..._  B-Bottle."

 

It was a simple but absurd request. Suguro drew back his hands like he touched hot stimuli, and stared at Rin.

"The entire class is-"

"I can't move! Please..." Rin cried, his face flushing red. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna-!"

"Okay..." 

The rest of the class exchanged confused looks between each other while Suguro rummaged in his bag. He drew out two small empty bottles and somehow, Yukio immediately got the implication.

"Everyone except from Moriyama and Suguro..." his voice faltered at his name. "-could you please return to your dorms. You are dismissed for the day."

 Koneko gently placed the Kurikara on the table. Him, Izumo and Shima bowed and quietly left the room.

"Hold on, teach. What do I do with the lady?" Shima gestured to his full arms.

"Would you mind looking after her for the night until she wakes up?"

"Ah, okay. Got it." Shima turned around and joined Izumo and Koneko to the door, whispering inaudibly.

"I'll take care of that, Suguro." Yukio turned to him and stretched his hands out to receive the bottles.

"Sir, it's alright, I can-"

"Suguro. I am his brother. I doubt he would want to expose his privates to anyone outside family."

Swallowing, Suguro handed him the bottles without further protest.

"Thank you. Would the two of you mind facing the other way for a minute?"

Suguro helped Shiemi to her feet and gently pulled her by the wrist so they were at a reasonable distance, their backs to the Okumuras.

"Okay Rin." Yukio unscrewed both bottles and placed the lids on his lap. He kept one bottle in each hand. "I'm holding these for you. All you need to do is place your tip at the neck and relieve. Simple?"

Rin nodded, sucking in a shaky breath and removed one of his hands to begin unbuckling his belt. He then risked removing the other to pull his zipper down and only just managed to pull the zip down when he felt himself leak a second time. His hands flew back between his legs and he squeezed himself.

"I-I'm leaking again!"

"Don't worry about that. You can change your clothes after. Pull it out and position yourself. Come on, you're really close now." He tapped the base of the bottle against Rin's leg, encouraging him.

Keeping one hand still planted outside, Rin slipped the other inside his underwear and wrapped his fingers around his member. He counted to three in his head and yanked it out as fast as he could and pressed it into the bottle.

The slow stream became a full-force in milliseconds. In the room, only the sound of Rin's trembling sighs and the thundering of his torrent against the plastic could be heard. Rin kept his eyes shut, not wanting to see Yukio's most likely disgusted expression.

Suguro visibly winced at the noise of Rin's stream and he glanced over to Shiemi beside him, who was growing bright red at the cheeks and wringing her hands together. It somewhat reassured him that she was feeling the same discomfort as he was.

The first bottle filled up quickly - they couldn't see but they could hear the change in pitch as Rin reached the maximum capacity - and Yukio readied himself to swiftly swap bottles without Rin needed to cut his stream mid-way to prevent spraying. Though, all four of them knew enough that a stream as strong as that is insanely painful to stop. He only filled the second bottle one-quarter of the way before only dribbles were left as it tapered off.

Rin kept his gaze down at his lap, still mildly damp. He only briefly saw the pale yellow liquid in both bottles and instead focused on tucking his member back into his wet, cold boxers. It made him shiver.

Yukio screwed the caps back on firmly. For a second, he stilled, unsure with what to do with the bottles.  _I don't have my bag with me..._ They were warm under his fingers, which made him blush.  _This is all... Rin's..._

He swallowed lightly and quickly emptied them in the kitchen sink, trying as he might to keep his blush from darkening.

"You two can turn around now."

The two Exwires did so, their faces redder than normal.

"Moriyama. Could you assist me once again?"

"Of c-course." Shiemi nodded and took her former position. Suguro pulled another chair and sat at a comfortable distance, twiddling his thumbs absent-mindedly. All four of them stayed silent, with only Yukio's voice from time to time when he requested Shiemi to pass some items to him. Shiemi and Yukio exchanged a few glances at each other but didn't dare to speak else.

Rin kept his look from everyone else, still violently embarrassed that he had resorted to relieving himself using two bottles, and not only in front of his brother and his best female friend but also... his crush.

_He was **technically** one, right?_

Rin managed to make eye-contact with Suguro, only for the taller of the two to immediately break it.

 

Yukio's phone vibrated in his coat pocket and he quietly excused himself to answer the call.

"Good evening, Okumura speaking... Yes. I'll be there shortly. Take care." Yukio ended the call with his thumb. "I apologise, but I've been called on an investigation. Moriyama, could you tend to the rest of Rin's injuries and once you're done, would you and Suguro take Rin to our bedroom?"

They both nodded.

"Thank you. Good night you three." He placed a hand on Rin's shoulder, gently squeezed it and walked to the door. They watched him pull the handle and shut it firmly.

Shiemi tended back to Rin. Slowly rolling the bottom of his trousers, she traced her fingers along his skin, feeling for any additional wounds. Any that he did have had mostly healed up with only smeared blood where they previously were, which she wiped clean to prevent further infection.

Giving his legs one last pat, she rolled the pants back down. "I can't see anything else."

"I think that's it. Thanks, Shiemi."

"Oh! It's no problem! It my duty!" She smiled.

_You know, she always did have that sense of wanting to help someone. with anything._

_Another of her many admirable traits._

Rin stood and the both of them offered to carry him to his room. He refused politely, insisting his legs were healed up now. They followed him up the dusty stairs, silent with their own thoughts. Upon reaching his door, Shiemi was the first to break that silence.

"Hey Rin... Did you end up talking to Suguro about it?"

"No, I couldn't bring myself to. I'm gonna talk to him about it now, though. Is that okay?"

Shiemi blinked, before understanding that he was excusing her from the dorm. "Yes, that's fine, good... I hope it goes well.

With an inclination to touch her, he pulled the blonde girl into a warm embrace. "I hope so too. Goodnight, Shem." He gave her a squeeze before pulling away, smiling sweetly.

" 'Night Rin, and Suguro." She smiled to both of them and gave a small wave as she turned.

" 'Night, Moriyama."

She stepped down the stairs gracefully and once she was out of sight, Rin opened the door and held it after him for Suguro. Rin kept hold of the handle once inside, waiting until her footsteps became inaudible.

 

For a moment, Suguro was glad Rin had his back to him, because he felt his heartbeat spike and he was sure his internal panic would be visible on his exterior, too. He grew tense, preparing himself for the inevitable confrontation. He took a deep breath, partly to calm him down, and opened his mouth to speak. Rin's form began to shake and he cackled.

"I can't believe it - YOU kissed me!" He turned to him, grinning.

Just like that, his nerves vanished and his face screwed up. "I-I could say the same thing to you.  _You're_ the one who started it!" He jabbed a finger into Rin's chest. His fingertips heated up from realising he touched Rin and he retracted his hand almost immediately, crossing his arms over his chest to play it cool.

Rin walked over to his wardrobe and dug around for a pair of clean clothes.  "I-yeah, I know  _that..._ " His voice became muffled as he searched around. He eventually settled on an orange shirt, a similar colour to Suguro's red flames in retrospect, and red shorts. He threw his head back. "You did it back!"

"W-whad'you expect me to do? Keep avoidin' you for all of eternity?"

Rin slipped off his ripped up shirt, his chest now fully exposed. Suguro flushed at the sight of Rin's skin and looked away.

"Well, no, but..." He stopped mid-sentence to piece his next words in a coherent enough sentence. He held the casual shirt in his hands, playing with the cotton fabric. "...Is that it then?" He glanced up in anticipation.

"My... response to you?" Rin nodded. "Yes. Yes it is."

"Oh... I'm glad.  _So_ glad. You never said anything so for the longest time I thought that, that face I saw on you the other day, I saw it for a second but I thought that was it. Your rejection. I kept thinking  _'Fuck, what have I done?'._ I sorta hoped you had more to say but it was so long... it must have been just that." He inched forward, his shirt now handing on his arm. He took instead to playing with the hem of Suguro's white shirt. "I'm really happy I got something more than that.  _A lot_ more than I expected, really." He grinned again, but dropped it as he asked a serious question. "Why, though? Why the kiss?"

_Isn't that obvious? I like you?_

"If you answer my question, I answer yours."

"O..kay?" His tone was uncertain.

"Why did  _you_ kiss me first?"

_Why._

_Why he did what he did._

He had several answers, all scattered, that needed to be summarised.

_Here goes..._

"Because... I thought I was beginning to have a crush on you.-"

_Wait, him **too**?_

"-Maybe I was starting to like you, you know, more than a best- a friend." Rin corrected himself, not wanting to assume their status.

"Best friend."

"We are?"

"You think, after all we've been though, we would still be only friends?"

"No?" _So we **are** best friends... That's nice to know._  "...So, it just wouldn't get outta my head and I felt that maybe if I kissed you or something, I'll know if I actually do. As in, if I didn't like kissing you, I didn't actually like you like that. That sort of thing."

Suguro snorted. "I guess that didn't pan out."

"Nope! That was a huge mistake and a  _really_ stupid idea that didn't help anything. I ended up making things weird between us."

_Well, at least one of my doubts were confirmed._

"You... didn't make it entirely awkward. It just had me thinking-" _And feeling, too._ "-is all."

 

"Soo, why did you kiss me second?" Rin fidgeted on the spot.

Suguro uncrossed his arms and slinked his now sweaty palms into his pockets. "I, uh, I wasn't plannin' on to but it just ended up happenin'. Our faces were really close and I felt an urge to and... yeah. Er... I guess an actual reason is because I didn't really know what to do or say. From what you were sayin', yes, I may have been taken aback as my first reaction, 'cause no guy friend has ever kissed me before. I then tried to figure out why, what you meant. Mr Okumura suggested that perhaps you were just explorin' your... sexual orientation. Figurin' out if you were gay or bi or somethin' else, I dunno. Then I thought it could be the fact you liked me like that, as you said."

He looked at Rin rather sternly. "Thing is, you never gave me any signs so it was hard to work out if it was the former or the latter." He started walking towards one of the beds - Rin's, he assumed, from the messy state. "Because of all this, I think I started to... I don't know." He slumped down onto the bed.

Presuming that as an invitation, Rin joined him and they sat hip-to-hip on the edge, with their forearms resting on their thighs.

"I... am curious, I guess. For a while, I believed I only had an eye for girls, you know. I know now that I'm actually bi. I like girls and guys."

Suguro clasped his hands together, his thumbs fidgeting. "Do you like me then?"

Rin was silent for a while, drawing his hands to his face in long thought. He eventually removed them, slowly nodding his head while placing his palms together.

"Yeah, I think I do."

Suguro nodded in acknowledgement.

"What about you? Do you like me? Oh and you don't need to say yes just cause I did."

"Yeah, I think I like you too."

He didn't notice Rin gaping at him in stunned silence, staring.

"R-really?!"

"Positive."

Rin couldn't help but spread quite possibly the most happy and genuine grin Suguro had ever seen him muster. Any additional nerves they had were released in an instant as they began laughing uncontrollably. Rin nuzzled himself into Suguro's chest and Suguro leaned his head against Rin's as they continued laughing, their forms shaking.

"Positive, like a proton?"

Suguro groaned, which only made Rin laugh harder under him. "I should never had tutored you. Yes, as positive as a H+ ion can get."

 

They calmed down after a few minutes, and Rin became serious again.

"So... what do we do now?"

"What now? I guess we gotta go out sometime."

"Like a date?!"

"Yes, a date." Suguro lifted his head off Rin and squeezed Rin's hands that had somehow made its way under his. "We'll discuss that another time. For now, you get your half-naked ass changed and get some sleep."

Rin let out a yawn as if on queue. "I was okay?" He muttered, finally pulling on his shirt. Suguro would never admit it, but the exposed chest was nice while it lasted.

"Yeah, and then you stopped!"

"That's because I was _talking_ to you! I can't do two things at once - it's impossible!" He unbuckled his belt and looped one leg out of his pants before stopping. "Wait, shit. Need to change my boxers..."

"You can do two things at once. You're doin' it right now. And anyway, you're just embarrasin' yourself by standing around in piss-stained clothes!"

"I fucking-" Rin hunted around his draws for clean underclothes. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the other blatantly staring at him. "Turn around, pervert."

Suguro rolled his eyes and obeyed Rin, folding his arms.

"As I was saying, I fucking pissed in a bottle. TWO bottles. In front of you three."

"Wasn't it _your_ idea in the first place?"

"Better than going in my pants, that's for sure!"

"Didn't you already kinda do that?"

"No, not fully! I have a _problem_ , remember? Not to add it was super painful to stop _going!"_

"You didn't say anything! You could've asked to go to the restroom if you really were that desperate!"

"Did you not see me? I was trapped on that chair!"

"No, Okumura, you weren't. It's not prison, you were being treated. You should have just told them you were desperate and they would have obviously let you go, dimwit! I don't think your brother's _that_ apathetic to make you sit there until you..."

"Jesus, these boxers are too tight... H-hey! That wasn't an invitation for you to look!" Rin frantically pulled his shirt down, waving his hand in front of him.

"Sorry..." Suguro covered his face with his hand, turning back. Those boxers _were_ a little too tight on the half-demon, especially the fact that his backside and especially his soft junk bulge were quite pronounced. That said image was now ingrained in his mind.

_I'm getting less straight by the minute, damn..._

"I wasn't thinking, alright? I was holding it for ages."

"Why? I thought I told you to just ask Shima and Konekomarou to let you go if you needed to go."

"I know, you did! I just... I-I felt a little shy, okay? It's different with you. I don't even say anything and you just already know, like you've got some mind-reading skills."

" _Hah_ , I wish. It's really not that hard. You perform this special..." Suguro smirked. "Hm, pee dance."

"I do _what?"_

"Like so."

Rin turned around, a 'you wouldn't dare' expression worn on his face. With another smirk, Suguro planted both of his hands at the front of his trousers, curled his fingers and hunched forward. He started to shift his weight from foot to foot, lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet in between switch over. "You're all _'Aah, nngh, Sugurooo~ I really need to, ah-!'_ "

Rin's face had now grown beet red from the embarrassment and horror that  _the little shithead_ had the audacity to humiliate him like that. He tightly grabbed him by the collar and edged him towards the wall.

"FUCK YOU! You think my pee dance is funny, huh? I'll show you funny!"

Rin clenched his hand into a fist and was about to sock the life out of Suguro when his wrist was locked into place with Suguro's fingers.

Suguro chuckled, not threatened in the slightest. "Nah, it's cute, actually."

Rin dropped his bared teeth. "W-w-what?" How's that _cute?!"_

It was Suguro's turn to grow crimson. Not that he hadn't already, throughout the evening. "I-It's just is, alright? I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Both of us need some sleep." Suguro let go of Rin's wrist, and their arms flopped to their sides. Rin missed the warm fingers over his wrist.

He pushed Rin back to allow himself to move to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Night, Suguro."

Suguro opened the door and looked at Rin once more that night, giving him a small smile. "Night, Okumura." He quietly shut the door, exhaling deeply and let go of the handle. He leaned against the door, running his hands through his hair.

_I am actually going out with Okumura. I am... dating... a guy! I am. dating. the son. of Satan._

He resisted the urge to burst out laughing at the insane but accurate statement.

_Well, I look forward to us failing at romance._

He smiled to himself, shaking his head. Pressing his palms - that were no longer sweaty - to the door, he levered himself off it and headed to his dorm.

When Rin finally heard Suguro's footsteps quieten, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He lifted a curious finger onto his lips.

_I wonder if he's into simple dates..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artwork can be found here: https://sugarbubbles2000.tumblr.com/post/164491514776/suguro-became-visibly-aware-that-he-had-inched-to  
> Woop! We got a second kiss and even crush confessions! From the both of them! *squee*
> 
> Please, comments ahoy! ^^ Sadly, this will be the last update for a while. I got my AS exam results back a few days ago and I'm kinda having to find a uni course alternative because I don't have high enough grades for dental school. Plus, it's gonna be a pretty hectic last year of school come September so I need to prioritise my education over this, sadly. ^^'
> 
> Don't worry though, Allurement will not be discontinued. It just means the last three chapters will be written very slowly, in between schoolwork, A2 revision and uni applications. To make up for it, I promise to write every Tuesday, okay? c:


	10. First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin wasn't sure if the staring was a compliment or him over-doing it and he felt a blush creep over his cheeks too. Small attempts were taken to push it away. "Suguro." He repeated, this time extending his hand in the space between them. He briefly glanced back to see - _Oh crap, I have an audience. Okay just ignore them_. He swallowed lightly, his other hand rubbing at his now hot neck. "Will you go out with me... on our first date?"
> 
> The question miraculously came out with such clarity, it would have made Rin grateful he didn't stumble. If not for the split milliseconds between his tongue leaving the roof of his mouth and having Suguro blurt out a "I'd love to" without a beat of hesitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while! Welcome back to my fic XD I have returned with an update (finally!). Some mishaps happened in August after getting exam results and so I had to slow down on writing to allow time to sort out uni course related things. I'll spare the ramble but all's good now and I'm excited for studying Biomedical sciences next September c: 
> 
> Between then and now, I've dedicated one-two days per week writing this chapter. (According to my notebook, it's been two months since starting it. :o) In a way, the hiatus was good, since I had more time to write a (super long but) good chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoy~!

“You know… I’m still over the moon from last night.”

Rin seemed to change the topic from how good he slept last night to… _last night_. Suguro stopped fiddling with the page of notes in his hands, to the half-demon setting his bag on the desk adjacent and settling down.

Rin held the grin, that grin that briefly reminded Suguro of the one he displayed before they parted ways, That one of pure, generous euphoria. It was safe to say the genuine nature warmed Suguro’s heart.

He almost tried to push back that feeling, when he remembered he confessed his feelings to Rin - the feelings that were actually reciprocated just the same, that which Suguro was still wrapping his head around - so he didn’t fight it.

Rin’s features relaxed a little, as the topic held more serious undertones.

Suguro scoffed. “I am too. It’s a little surreal to know that’cha, uh…” Suguro glanced a little behind him, as if wary of anyone listening in. “You know.”

Rin’s smile dropped a tad. _Wait, does he not want anyone to know we’re dating?_

“I’m pretty shocked to know you felt the same way. You’re full of surprises.”

 

To the others, it seemed as if no sort of conflict happening between the two as of recent actually… happened. Whatever tension or restrain that was previously present now completely evaporated; interactions between ‘Rooster boy’ and the Son of Satan returned to normal.

Though, if one were to inspect at a closer angle, the both did seem a little happier than usual.

 _Especially_ Suguro.

Rin was a given; he was usually upbeat and smiling. It was a natural look to him and it complimented him well. Suguro, though, that was new. Shima swore he never saw Suguro smile so much in his life as he did when he spoke to Rin. Not that it didn’t go unnoticed by the prodigy in question. At times, he had put his hand to his mouth, realising he must have looked a little _too_ happy, and forced himself back to his face at rest.

Rin rubbed off him a lot more than he was aware of. Even through simple acts of returning that same bright smile Rin shone every morning.

Every time he became conscious of it, he’d remind himself that there wasn’t anything wrong with grinning so much. Except when it began to hurt his cheek bones. Or, in inappropriate situations.

However, _this_ was completely appropriate.

All throughout the day and the next few days, Rin felt cosy. He was satisfied, more than so, elated at how their relationship had been taken further.

Knowing that the person sitting right next to him cared for him - and yes, like that too - filled him with a sense of self-worth. Like he mattered. He didn’t need the words uttered but he understood, nonetheless.

They sat close, their hips almost but not exactly touching, through all cram school periods. For the first time, Rin took notice of Suguro’s scent: An earthly and musky one - which was rather pleasant to his nose.

_It suits him._

He briefly wondered what his own scent was like, unsure of how to phrase the question. He figured he’ll ask another time.

All in all, Rin still felt content with how things currently stood.

...At the same time, he pondered over what comes next.

A leap was already taken. Though Rin knew they should slow down for a while, there was still a nagging thought of his to keep the pace up.

 

The next leap was taken in the middle of the week.

 

* * *

 

 _**4:39pm to Suguro** _  
_Hey Suguro, are you busy tonight?_

 _**4:41pm from Suguro** _  
_Hey. No, not entirely. I was planning on sorting some of my notes out. What’s up?_

 _**4:42pm to Suguro** _  
_Good_

 _**4:42pm to Suguro** _  
_Oh, I’ll let you know later :)_

Rin glanced up from his phone in hand, catching Shiemi down the hallway. He shoved his phone in his pocket and jogged over to her. He kept it as a vague “Listen, I need your help with something!” and enthusiastically grabbing her wrist, he led her in the direction of his and Yukio’s dormitory.

As soon as the door to their room was shut, Rin began his plan.

...It may not be entirely true to say it was a plan; at least, not a fully _developed_ plan. It was simple: Rin had planned to take Suguro later that day, on a date. When questioned as to where, yet another vague answer pursued. “I was thinking about us two hanging around town for a while, something simple, then maybe a restaurant? We’ll see.”

Though sounding simple, that was not all of it. He wanted to put effort into his appearance, way more than he’d usually do. There was one person he considered to help; specifically, from shoulder upwards.

It was noted by most people close to Shiemi that she puts a great deal of time into styling her hair everyday. It went from her plain cut at the beginning of the term to adorning her soft hair with clips, bands and pins everyday, without fail. It only seemed logical that he’d propose her the job of being in charge of styling his hair for their evening.

With small hesitation, she accepted it.

“Look-wise… I’d like something that makes me look smart. Something that will go along with that.” He gestured to a plastic-covered suit sprawled across his bed.

“Okay… You should put that on first and then we can choose the style.”

“Ah, good idea! I’ll… be right back.” He carried the suit in his arms and hurried to the bathroom.

 _Hm, while I’m waiting, I should get everything I need...._ She began to mentally list as she slipped out.

 

Once done, he took a seat on the bed, as he waited for her to return. _She’s probably gone to the bathroom or somewhere… Hope she won't be too long._

He realised, from the place and way he was sitting, that he was more or less in the same position just a few days prior. Turning to his left, he could almost envision Suguro, sitting right beside him, telling Rin while growing red himself that he liked him. Not only that - that in itself was an entire story of its own - but also liking him back. It made the half-demon feel giddy from the thought alone. He felt his cheeks grow warm at the fond thought.

_I like you so much!_

He brought fisted hands to his face and rocked on the spot, effectively fanboying. His tail swooshed behind him in harmony.

She returned soon enough, banging open the door, which the whack made Rin jump right out of his skin. She was completely flustered from the rushing and running from the two places. After apologising for the wait - and noise - her green eyes widened when she remembered Rin never specified he wanted his face done, too.

To her relief, he agreed to it. It would only serve as more to knock him out of the park.

As well as knocking _Suguro_ off his feet.

She bounced around the room enthusiastically, setting out the primary products and tools. Rin pulled a chair to the tall mirror hanging on the furthermost wall. He watched her, bemused.

Shiemi delayed little time and began work on his hair, using his tub of gel. After wetting his hair, she combed as many locks as she could backwards before lathering in the viscous gel. She raked her fingers through his scalp over and over, effortlessly. In a way, she was massaging his head. The soothing touch closed his eyes shut, for a while.

 

A ping from his phone made Rin fluttered his eyes open, blinking. Jeez, I almost fell asleep there. He stared back at his reflection.

Impressively, she had managed to get back more tiny strands than he was able to, no matter how much he would apply or how much time he too. He’d ask her for her technique but again, she had left the room.

A note with neat curly handwriting was left on the mirror. _"Be right back, I’m going to wash my hands."_ Rin took to lounging on the chair while he waited, checking his phone.

 **_5:03pm from Shima_ **  
_Dude, Bon’s freaking out_

 **_5:03pm from Shima_ **  
_I dunno what’s happening but he thinks you’re comin to hang at ours and he’s making us spring clean the damn place_

 **_5:04pm to Shima_ **  
_Tell him to chill it's no big deal if it’s messy_

 **_5:04pm from Shima_ **  
_He can’t chill_

Rin burst out laughing at that. Shiemi returned, looking at him quizzically until he calmed enough to explain the situation. He reassured her that it was part of the plan to keep it a secret until he arrived.  After that she squeezed a blob of face cream onto her hand, starting on his make-up.

It took a while and lots of face wipes but Shiemi made progress. She had to lean into Rin a lot and after showing fatigue in her posture, Rin pulled her onto his lap and let her continue. It would be more comfortable and they were close enough so he didn’t mind.

Fingertips delicately touched his face as she tilted it this way and that way, applying the various creams and powders. It felt more intimate than the occasions when she placed her hand over his. It wasn’t an issue of being this physically close, however, Rin often found himself staring into her serious but bright as ever lime-green irises. _It’s a pretty green._ It was soft, yet a vibrant colour, one he could easily keep gazing and getting lost in, in a repeated cycle.

 _No._ Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts. The focus tonight wasn’t her. For now, he had to push away his fondness for the female tamer and steer it to his…

 _Crush?_ Certainly they were more than that. Boyfriend? Woah, too far! The best friend that I also like and who likes me back? That’s a bit of a mouthful.

 _Romantic interest?_ Perhaps, if not for it sounding so sophisticated. He did seem to be attracted to Suguro, incredibly so. On the other hand, ‘attract’ was a strong word.

Likewise, crushing wasn’t sophisticated at all so why should he be labelling it like so? He had feelings, Suguro had feelings too, and that’s all to it.

She finished by lining his lips with peach lip gloss and pushing his chin up so he could press and mix his lips together.

She stood up. “So, I didn’t want to put too much on. It might have looked overdone that way.” She moved out of the way, standing behind him and placing her hands on her hips. “What do you think?”

She clutched the back of the chair hard in anticipation. Rin leaned forward, studying his face with acute curiosity.

His face looked generally clearer. Small spots that were visible on his face, if you were close enough to see, were practically invisible. She masked them well. Even the faintest of moles were hardly there.

She had transformed his eyes. A thin layer of liner sat above his lashes and his eyelids were brushed with cerulean blue eyeshadow.  
Holy crap, I look different... A good different! He turned his head both ways, inspecting. His jawline also seemed more pronounced.

“Wow, I… _damn!”_ He managed to breathe, astounded. “I really, _really_ like it!! Oh man, I look so good!” His hand drifted from his face and brushed against his tie that had been hanging on his neck, undone. “Hey, could you do my tie real nice? I’m crap at it.”

She took the dark blue silk in her hands and began to wrap it around his collar. Earlier, she had taken note of the colour and purposefully matched his eyeshadow to the tie. It reminded them both of his flames. It suited him.

To keep a physical copy of the perfect job Shiemi did, she suggested some pictures to be taken of him. He handed his phone to her and Shiemi took a few snaps from different angles. She showed him them, giggling as she flicked through all his various expressions he pulled.

They cleared away her products into her bag. They used a lot more than was intended. He slipped into a shiny pair of black Derbies and she helped him tie up his shoelaces. He double checked his phone and wallet while he was at it.

Before she was let off the hook, she sprayed some cologne right the way across his chest and rummaged around in her bag before handing him her spare lip balm and a packet of tissues. “Take these just in case.”

He accepted the items, stuffing them into his pockets. She lugged her bag over her shoulder. Lastly, he grabbed a bottle of water.

“I’ll get going now.” He jostled the bottle in said direction.

“Yes, yes, do!” The blonde exwire patted her hands into Rin’s back and essentially shoved him out of the door. It seemed like she was more eager to go that he was.

“Hey Shem.” He pulled on her jumper. “Thank you so much. you made me look stunning.”

She flushed. “I said it wasn’t anything.” She poked a finger declaratively into his arm. “Now hurry up and enjoy your date with Suguro!”

“Yeah, will do!” Rin called back, fishing around for his phone.

 **_5:23pm to Suguro_ **  
_Hey, coming to yours in a few minutes! :)_

 **_5:24pm from Suguro_ **  
_Okay, cool._

 

* * *

 

Suguro slammed his phone onto his desk as soon as he hit send. “Shit, shit, shit, he’s gonna be here like _NOW!”_ He almost shrieked, scanning the room. “Fuckin’- SHIMA MAKE YOUR BED!!”

“ _Bon..._ He’s been here, like, many times before.” Shima chuckled, whilst still getting off his bed and motioning for the young female demon to move off, obeying Suguro’s demands. “I don’t think he’s gonna even notice.”

“I think Bon just wants to impress Okumura now that they’re official. Right?” Koneko grinned, cheekily.

“S-since when did you get so loud-mouthed, Konekomaru?!” Suguro snapped, flinging his arm around. A sigh followed moments later, his nerves taking over.  “I… want to do a good job on this. It's different this time.”

Shima took initiative, knowing how petty Suguro could get at times. “Okumura already knows how much of a neat-freak you are. What you need to do is _relax_.” He squeezed the tallest of the trio’s shoulders. “Oh my god, you are literally shaking.” He added, under his breath, at feeling Suguro tremble from underneath his fingertips.

The small bespectacled exwire approached Suguro, taking the two larger hands into his smaller ones. “Take it easy, you’re getting all anxious. You’ll scare him off if you keep freaking out.” He began rubbing small circles over Suguro’s knuckles with his thumbs. “With me. Breathe in and out.”

Suguro followed Koneko’s instructions, levelling his breathing rate. His sweat cooled down alongside.

“Please don’t tell me he’s gonna be like this _every time_ Okumura comes round…” Shima whispered.

“Shush, not helping.” Koneko hushed.

They kept silent, the three in a mini-circle until a knock came.

“Shit, that’s Okumura! Move, move!” Suguro waved his arms around and turned back to his desk, flipping open his textbook. He slipped his headphones back on and picked up his pen.

Shima and the female demon scrambled back onto the bed. Koneko knelt back down onto the floor, picking up a pile of unsorted notes.

“Come in…”

The door whooshed open and was shut carefully.

 _Okay, deep breaths. He’s here now. He’s approaching me and all I need to do is turn slowly and talk to him like I normally do_. Suguro reassured himself.

“Yo- oh, _damn.”_ Shima breathed, a smirk making its way up his face. Rin simply stared at Suguro’s back, his tail nervously swishing behind him.

“Evening, Okumura.” Koneko greeted, getting up off his knees, papers in hand.

Rin gave a small smile to them, waving at Yama before turning to the fourth occupant.

“Suguro.” His voice was low, albeit a little uptight as he strided across the room.

The one in subject unplugged his earphones and swivelled around to face Rin.

 

_Oh. OH._

 

On and on he stared. He was leaning back so he braced his arms against his desk. Saying he was stunned was an understatement. He was **flabbergasted**. The mirror in their room was on the other side of the room, so he couldn’t even tell how crimson his face must have turned, as he gave Rin look-over after look-over.

 _That can’t be Okumura._ Not if he excluded those insanely blue eyes, those iconic pointy tipped ears and that animatic tail. _Oh Jesus, that is Okumura._

Rin wasn’t sure if the staring was a compliment or him over-doing it and he felt a blush creep over his cheeks too. Small attempts were taken to push it away. “Suguro.” He repeated, this time extending his hand in the space between them. He briefly glanced back to see - _Oh crap, I have an audience. Okay just ignore them_. He swallowed lightly, his other hand rubbing at his now hot neck. “Will you go out with me… to our very first date?”

 

The question miraculously came out with such clarity, it would have made Rin grateful he didn’t stumble. If not for the split milliseconds between his tongue leaving the roof of his mouth and having Suguro blurt out a “I’d love to” without a beat of hesitation.

Suguro blinked at just how fast he let his tongue slip. He blinked. “Er, ah, I mean, first date already-? No, w-wait I mean, yes. Yes I do… want to go- hang ou- go on a date with ya.” He fumbled with his words and even he knew how ridiculous he sounded.

“Oh, is it too early? Oh shi- sorry… I thought it was a-appropriate at this stage.”

“Now now Okumura, there’s no such thing as ‘too early’!” Shima chimed, only to be silenced by Koneko who was now perched on the empty side of his bed.

“It’s fine. We can do things differently, I guess.” Suguro levered himself off the chair. He swung open his wardrobe which was right next to his desk. “Just give me a second to change my-”

A hand slammed the small doors shut. “No, you don’t need to do that.”

“I do. Look at ya.” He gestured to Rin’s suit. “I should-” _Don’t say match_ “-coordinate.”

“Suguro, it’s fine. You’re fine.” As soon as he said it, Rin hoped the implication of the last part wouldn’t be picked up on. “A-as in, what you’re wearing now is fine.”

“Then let me just present myself a little.”

Rin allowed it, watching Suguro comb his hair back, neatening the strands that betrayed his gel while still appearing natural. He tightened his tie to his neck and replaced his pale yellow jumper for a black blazer. As a final check, he tucked his shirt into his trousers. Noticing Rin’s clean footwear made him decide to give his own shoes a quick polish before slipping them on.

His attempts at mirroring Rin’s attire was plausible but, of course, not quite levelling.

“Soo, you ready?” It appeared Suguro had reached a standstill, only worrying the lapel of his jacket.

“Yes, let’s.” Suguro stuffed his phone and wallet into his pocket as he was gently pulled by his sleeve to outside. They both were distinctly aware of Shima, Koneko and Yama staring at their backs as they exited.

 

“Are we off to some exquisite evening at a palace or what?” Suguro scoffed, the moment he vouched them to be far enough to start talking.

“Um…” Rin nervously chuckled, fingers curling into his inner pockets. “I’m afraid not. I just wanted to look good. Instead, I was supposing we could hang out around town- but not like ‘hang out’, as in just hangin’. It would obviously be date-like and everything but I would like to chill with you for a while.”

Suguro halted at the first step down the dormitory stairs. “Wait, so we’re gonna ‘chill around town’ while you look like _that?”_

“Well, yes I guess so-”

“You really are the biggest idiot I’ve met.” Suguro pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a chuckle when catching Rin growing defensive. He continued, while stepping down. “Which is the best thing about you Fine, I’ll let you do things your way.” He lightly kicked Rin’s shin. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They stepped to the outside swiftly. “I would’ve booked a nice restaurant or someplace similar but I don’t have an awful lot of money and I thought it would have been too overbearing for our first date, so I… compensated.”

That earned an internal scoff from Suguro; though it was probably impolite if it was out loud. “Don’t try to bluff, I know you just wanted to impress me. It worked. I think you look… _absolutely gorgeous_.”

_**Gorgeous**?! Does he think I look gorgeous?_

Rin swore he never thought Suguro could redden so deeply as he did right here.

_That probably was hard for him to say. I’ll make this easy for him, then._

“Thank you. 'Gorgeous' is a bit much, but hey, I’ll take it. You always look _so_ good too!”

“T-thanks…” The redness lessened, much to Suguro’s relief.

They padded out of the campus gates at similar paces. Not that neither were paying particular attention to; their focus was directed at each other.

“Question. Did you do all of that, or..?” Suguro drew a circle around Rin’s face with his finger.

“Oh no no, Shiemi did.” Rin waved his hand sideways. “I personally think she did an excellent job.”

“I would agree.”

“Question for you. What’s your sexuality? I’m bi, you know that, and you’re..?”

This was the same question that Suguro had avoided answering when Rin asked it some time ago. He might as well answer now.  
“I’m… probably demi?”

That took Rin by surprise. “Oh, really? So it’s a friend sort of thing?”

“It’s… the whole ‘I’m usually close to a gir- someone before I start feelin’ things’. Which is more or less friends, yes.”

Rin kept quiet for once, mulling over this new - and interesting, too - piece of information. He finally smiled. “That’s cute.”

This line of conversation was somewhat foreign to Suguro and it did admittedly make him feel awkward. Identity in the romantic sense wasn’t something of exact importance to him; it went no more than stating his sexuality in forms and applications when required. Of course, it wasn’t required of him but it never hurt to pen it down. It was never something embarrassing to him.

Rin on the other hand, valued it as an important aspect to who he saw himself as. It was admirable, in a way: seeing Rin so boldly yet casually mention his bisexuality without an ounce of shame or hesitation. He feared no judgement and couldn’t care less if he was attracted to guys. He never needed to cover it with a ‘Hey! I also like girls too, you know!’ simply because he was perfectly content with it.

Some part of Suguro wished he too could be so care-free about attractions and feelings.

It seemed to feel less constricting that way. Healthier, too.

“Anyway…” Suguro muttered, casually brushing off Rin’s comment. He diverted his attention back to their surroundings and stopped in his tracks to take a look around.

They had managed to walk right off the school grounds and currently were in front of the local supermarket that marked one end of the town high street. Cars filled the single carriageway in both directions, piling the road with heavy traffic. It was as expected, Suguro noted that it was peak time. People of all ages lined the pavement on either side, to either hang out into the early hours of the evening, making their way home after a busy day at work or just passing by.

Rin wondered, as he noticed the crowds too, if any of them were going on a date just like they were.

Sunlight rays beamed slightly off-centre to the two which made Rin catch a glimpse at the rapidly darkening sky. The sun, cradled in the midst of cloud layers, began to set. Hues of amber adorned the sky. Pretty as always.

A small tug at Suguro’s sleeve from Rin and they walked, pressing forward.

“So. Any shops you wanna browse through?” Suguro started, peering at a hair salon that they passed. He ought to check out their prices at a later stage.

“Like, all of them!” Rin stretched his arms out. “Firstly, the one you wanna see.”

Before Suguro could answer, Rin moved himself closer, shortening the gap between them. He slipped a hand into the crook of his arm, where it bent from how his hands were resting in his pockets. The touch was light, gentle, growing with confidence by the seconds as he clutched part of the jacket sleeve fabric and pinching a little of Suguro’s skin beneath.

It made Suguro smile internally. Rin and docile seemed to work.

“If we go to every single one, we’d be here all night, Okumura!” If they were being honest though, Suguro wouldn’t mind spending an entire night walking with Rin. Not at all. Unfortunately, it was time to think practically and not ideally.

 

Little did Suguro know that Rin had just a similar thought as this.

“Ah right. We could just nip in and out right?”

“Well we’re not shoppin’, therefore yes, I guess?” Suguro doubted either had enough money on them for more than simple window-shopping so large purchases was out of the question.

 

* * *

 

They explored a handful of stores; the ones they chose were predominantly either clothes, food, accessories (Suguro did not object to this one) or ornaments. Each one primarily consisted of Rin exploring each and every possible aisle and excitedly showcasing Suguro one, or many objects in his hands.

In the accessories shop, though, Suguro had taken particular interest in the sub-collection of big hair clips that hung delicately from the small wall. Rin noticed his permanent fix and practically forced him to wear some.The ones Rin would grab off were of the rather colourful and awfully girly type - Suguro could hardly tell if it was a joke or him being dead serious - not the plain neutral-coloured types he favoured. In the end, he settled on buying a few with a warm-grey metallic tone and one navy-coloured smooth clip, all for satisfying Rin.

That one stayed on his head for the rest of the evening.

They continued to walk down the high street, enveloping in each other’s presence as well as allowing their stomachs to digest the small snacks they had here and there. That is, until Rin spotted an ice-cream parlour.

“We are going in there, pronto.” Rin stated, waving a hand to beckon Suguro to follow.

 

 _“Mint?”_ Suguro questioned Rin’s choice, as soon as the waitress walked away.

“What? I don’t just like mango, you know?” If he was honest, he was about to order his usual, that doubled as his favourite flavour. He made a last-minute decision when the strategic thought of the mint ice-cream may freshen his breath, came to mind.

_I am so smart._

It might not be as effective as mouthwash, but he was sure it still could work.

As Rin was kept preoccupied in smugful thoughts, Suguro opposite him was engaged in the moderately loud chattering at the table behind him.

“Hoo, damn.” A chair was scraped against the floor, presumably one of the girls leaning forward. “Check out that guy.”

There was a brief pause, her friend turning round. “Hm, which one?”

“Don’t play dumb!” The chair scraped again. “You know, _the blue one!”_

Suguro’s ears pricked up at that. He lifted his head, staring ahead.

“Wanna grab his number?”

“Sure, why not? You can get his friend’s number and double date it.”

_No, you’re not asking Okumura out anytime soon…_

Suguro scowled and abruptly raised off his seat. He slumped, a little too hard for his liking, next to Rin. The noise startled Rin and he glanced at Suguro. Suguro budged up right beside the other, so close he bumped their hips together. An arm looped around Rin’s shoulder at the same time, drawing Rin close against Suguro’s chest.

_Cause he’s **mine**._

Suguro glared at the two girls stood up and making a move to them. He squeezed the hand on Rin’s shoulder, unaware that Rin was pink at the cheeks, melting into the touch.

_Suguro has his arm around me!_

“Oh crud, they’re gay.” The first girl groaned, sitting back down. “Nevermind!”

The second girl rolled her eyes. “I swear all the good ones are gay or taken…”

 

Their small bowls of delight arrived not too long after that small incident.

“Mmm! So good~!” Rin couldn’t help but moan, swallowing his bite of the cold, sweet cream.

“Agreed!” Suguro took a smaller bite of his butter pecan bowl.

Rin piled a second scoop onto his spoon and stuck it out. Suguro looked at the offering inches from his nose.

“Ah, no thanks.” He lifted his palm. “It’s yours.” At that, Suguro opened his mouth to take his second bite. Rin seized the opportunity and got his spoon in first.

“Heheh!”

The metal prodded at the back of his throat, making Suguro nearly gag.

“You have that and I’ll have a bit of yours. Deal?”

An irritated grunt came as a response from Suguro as he reluctantly swallowed the ice-cream. “Fine.” He declared after Rin withdrew the spoon. He gestured to Rin’s spoon, so that Rin could pinch a bit with that one. Rin only stared back blankly, not moving his hand.

Suguro only sighed. _He better not spread herpes or some shit to me…_ He took his own spoon and drove the melting cream into Rin’s wide-open mouth. Rin hummed, laughing, as his tongue danced around, licking the spoon clean.

“Mine’s got a better flavour.” He smirked, watching Suguro, with an amusing horrified expression, fervently wipe at the saliva with the napkins on the table.

“Oi! Mine’s good too.” Suguro looked like he was close to chucking the bowl right at Rin.

“I didn’t say it was bad, Suguro. I just said mine was tastier.” Rin shrugged, popping the last of his dessert into his mouth.

“You take that back…” Suguro muttered.

They focused on finishing, but couldn’t help but playfully kick at each other’s legs under the table, their interpretation of flirting in a way. They tried their very best to _not_ spit their mouthfuls out since they were snickering way too hard. It would have been terribly impolite to shoot food at one’s date, not to add Rin didn’t want to be scrubbing green stains off his nice suit all night long.

Said person was currently running his foot up and down the side of Suguro’s leg as he waited, patiently, for Suguro to finish off his bowl.

“Are you sure you wanna rub that polish off?” Suguro clutched his spoon after enduring the first few strokes. It stopped, and to Rin’s dismay, checking under the table confirmed that he had a considerably lighter patch on the leather surface.

It was interesting; Suguro was completely scraping his bowl clean. It seemed he missed eating ice-cream far more than he’d admit.

They were done and it was only then Suguro noticed, when he made to stand, that his arm had been around Rin far longer than it should have been. Rin didn't even question about it, that only making Suguro blush even more.

Gravity shifted when Rin stood, the bottle he finished and the various drinks they had earlier setting under his stomach.

_Fuck, I need to piss..._

Rin followed Suguro after they paid. He wasn’t sure where to put his hands so he settled for lightly grasping the sides of his trousers to prevent them creeping between his legs. It was tempting but he was sure he wasn’t that desperate. At least, not yet.

They both became quieter during the second half, still walking side by side, still loving being near each other. This was a minor problem to Rin since he came to learn that Suguro was _very_ perceptive. Any squirming was kept to a real minimum.

The half-demon wasn’t sure if the silence was comforting or unsettling. It became apparent that they never had the awkward silences. Someone - either him or Suguro - always filled in gaps. Now, neither was.

Suguro looked at Rin. _He’s gone a bit quiet…_ He always liked it when Rin filled the silence, be it small talk or one of his many elaborate stories. Perhaps, it was just the sound of Rin’s voice, his Tokyo accent, that he found pleasing to hear.

Rin inwardly cursed to himself. _I should have gone before we left, dammit!_. In the whole excitement leading to the date, the opportunity to use the bathroom was missed. _I’ll remember for next time... If we do have a next time. I hope we do._

He wouldn’t want to keep interrupting this or any future date nights just because he couldn’t hold it for a short time.

_No, there’s no way I’m gonna ask. We’re on a date. I shouldn’t have Suguro worrying about me._

Going would mean less time spent with the one he dressed up for tonight. Though, they’d known each other since the first term, this felt different. It was like Suguro was someone new to him. It made want to draw close, to learn more than what he already knew, to _be_ with him.

So long as his awkward walking wasn’t noticed.

As if on queue, Rin spotted a public bathroom to their left. He pretended he hadn’t seen it; rather, he picked up the pace and sped right past. He willed his mind to pay no attention to the thought of relief, even with the sight bringing his desperation up a smidge.

Suguro stopped, though. _Perfect timing for Okumura._

“Hey.” Suguro’s voice made Rin halt, gripping his trousers more. “You want to go?” He jerked a thumb in the direction.

“We’re going to do what?” The question came out so dumbly, even Rin knew that.

“What are we-?” Suguro face scrunched, his palm waving in small circles. “...Use the bathroom, maybe?”

“Oh. I’m good.” Rin spoke robotically. “Thanks, though.”

Suguro wasn’t convinced. “...Are you sure? We've been out here a few hours. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable-”

A small wave hit. “Yes, I’m sure.” Rin brought his hands down and wrung them nervously, a way of hiding his subtle shifting to fight his urge. “Anyway, I can hold it.” He quickly added, under his breath.

He felt another pulse, as if his body disagreed with what he just said to himself.

_My bladder will not control this evening! **I** will!_

With a new set of determination, he grabbed Suguro’s wrist and practically dragged him.

Suguro stumbled behind him. “W-where are we going all of a sudden?!” He fumbled with his words, disorientated.

Rin didn’t think twice; he just stormed off in the same direction while Suguro struggled to keep his balance.

 

* * *

 

_I hope we go back soon…_

Rin slowly shifted from foot to foot as Suguro crouched to remove a pebble that found its way into the sole of his shoe. As much as Rin really, really enjoyed this evening with Suguro…

He also really, _really_ was bordering desperation. Getting to the stage where he would frequently be crossing his legs and having to grab himself was not desirable.

Rin let out a yawn as Suguro stood up.

“Tired?”

“Nope, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Suguro chuckled quietly. “Let’s head back now. It’s getting late anyway.” He was right; the street lamps was the only thing illuminating the streets now.

 _Oh good…_ Rin was silently thankful for their date coming to a close. Any longer and he’ll have a hard time standing still.

 

At Suguro’s insistence, he walked Rin to his dormitory room. The walk back was just as pleasant. Rin’s hand made its way back to the crook of Suguro’s arm and made Suguro smile on the inside.

Rin pressed his palms into the wall next to the door. “Well. That certainly was a lot of fun!”

“Definitely was! I, er… would love to do something like this again.”

“And I would, too.” Rin smiled.

There was a pause before the taller exwire made the first move. He stepped into their gap, resting his hands on either of Rin’s shoulders. This forced the both of them to gaze into each other’s intense while somewhat sleepy eyes. There was a second or two before Suguro’s slid shut and placed his lips over Rin’s.

Rin tilted his head to position them better. As they shared their longest kiss so far, Rin’s arms found their way around Suguro’s neck, pulling them closer. Likewise - and with some hesitation - Suguro drew his hands up to cradle Rin’s face with them. They could faintly taste both flavours of each other’s ice-cream. It made Suguro want to laugh for some reason but he controlled himself.

It felt… different from their previous exchanges. Up to now, it was either one or the other kissing. Now, both of them were reciprocating.

 _Is this what kissing should be like? Damn, I’ve never kissed anyone before so I don’t know…_ Rin’s inexperience wouldn’t help to determine how close or far they - or rather, _he_ \- was to mastering it.

Neither were sure how long it lasted, getting lost in the taste of their lips. They did eventually come back to reality and pulled away.

“I wish that was our first kiss.”

The statement caught Suguro by surprise. “What? Why?”

“‘Cause this was so much better than my fuck-up of a-”

Suguro whacked his fist.

“NO. It wasn’t. I don’t know where you got the idea that first kisses need to be pitch perfect ‘cause they aren’t. Nobody’s first kiss is fairytale-like, so get it outta your head that it needs to be a masterpiece. Okay?!” He exhaled, leaned out a bit. “And one more thing. I have regrets too, you know. The way I reacted then… and how I never kissed back… I liked the kiss.”

Rin’s eyes widened.

“If that’s how kissin’ you is like then… fine by me. Therefore,” He poked Rin’s chest. “Never again do I want to hear you say that.” He pushed the finger further, for emphasis. “Understand?”

“Okay.” The smaller exwire's response was a little weak, taken aback at the flare-up.

A few moments later and Suguro could feel something brush against his leg. He looked down and noticed that Rin was slowly swaying his hips and biting his lip silently, his urgent need controlling his body.

It wasn’t long before Rin noticed his moving. At once, he flushed, planting his weight right to the floor, keeping his body in control.

Suguro laughed at how oddly cute it was; for once, Rin was trying to hide his desperation. “Well, I think that’s my queue to get going. At least, before you soak your nice pants.” He stepped back to allow the half-demon some space. He trailed his finger down Rin’s arms before his hands were shoved into his pockets.

“Good night, um, _date_.”

Suguro sniggered. “You too, _minty lips_.”

 _“_ Butter _pee-_ can _.”_ Rin retorted.

They smirked and gave each other one final gaze before they departed and Rin swung the door open.

In the room, Yukio glanced from his desk at the click. “Hey where were y-”

Catching the sight of Rin’s attire made him freeze mid-sentence.

“...ou?!” Yukio blinked, as Rin began pulling at his tie, loosening it.

“I went on a date with Suguro.”

_Not taking things slow at all, are they..._

“Oh? And? How did it go then?”

“Amazing, actually.” Rin unbuttoned his shirt and took off his jacket, shirt and tie. He lay the clothing on his bed with some effort to not crumple. “Suguro is… amazing, too.” He rubbed his neck. “I had a really good evening.”

“Funny that, it sounded like you two were arguing just outside.”

“Eh? You heard that?”

“Well, Suguro thumping his hand and shouting, yes.”

“Oh, _that_ … No, we weren’t arguin’. I just said something wrong after we kissed.”

Yukio leaned back, reaching for his pen that dropped. “Okay… I’m glad you had a good evening. Just promise me you won’t make this a frequent thing. You should use your evenings for studying, not wasting on dates and getting distracted.”

Rin rolled his eyes at the typical lecture. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I won’t.” He exhaled a long sigh, kicking his bag open. “Guess I’ll look over the notes for the test you set for tomorrow.” He remembered his promise to Suguro he’d study before he went to sleep.

“That’s more like it.”

“First though, I need to piss _so_ goddamn badly…”

 

* * *

 

“Ah, speak of the devil. Bon’s finally back.” Shima exclaimed, seeing the door open. “Did’cha score with Okumura?”

Suguro groaned. “It was a date, not a one-night stand.”

“Bon, how was it?! You have to tell us!” Koneko grabbed Suguro’s arm and shook it eagerly.

“What do ya want to know?” He dragged a chair to him by his leg and sat on it.

“Everything!” Koneko sat on the floor in front of Suguro, like it was storytime. “Did Okumura have potential for being a date?”

“...I don’t know what ya mean by ‘potential’ but he… he was nice.” Suguro found himself listing. “Very, _very_ nice. _So_ much gentlemanliness. Kind, polite… A lot different than I’ve ever seen him act, that’s for sure.”

“I swear, he was so suave, strolling in like that, dressed up ‘n all and right askin’ you out.” Shima’s hands accompanied the commentary.

“Not to add, you were freaking out so much moments before. And you didn’t even need to. I bet he didn’t even notice!”

“Sorry for that earlier. I just… I really like-” Suguro caught himself before he finished, face flaring red at the close confession.

To his dismay, the both of them finished the sentence for themselves.

“...Aww~! Bon’s got a mad crush on his little Oky~!” Shima teased, swaying.

“S-shut up!! So what if I do? I can’t help it.”

“Yes, Shima, don’t tease Bon, he can’t help it…” He turned back to Suguro. “Anyway, start from when you two just left the room!”

Just then, Suguro felt a wave of desperation wash over him. “Sh-shit… In a second.” He crossed his legs, pressing down on the seat until it subsided, before standing. “I’m _dyin’_ for a piss…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm actually sorry, I swear my fingers slipped and I managed to squeeze in date omo, even though I told myself "No more omo! Be normal for once!".)
> 
> First date: success! :D Comments, comments, please! I'd like to hear how you thought their evening went.
> 
> As for the next update... I can't say for certain when that'll be. I'm hoping December but it depends on school work load. I'm actually pretty committed to this fic soo I'll try to make it happen!  
> Take care!


	11. Bon-fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part of Suguro wanted to take that hand that was resting Rin’s cheek and interlock their fingers, or just any sort of touch to reassure him further, even if it was for something as silly as this that could easily be taken care of. For the added matter, it felt like Rin was sitting so far away when he was literally right next to him. Still, he wanted Rin to sit even closer, if just to help even a little.
> 
> “Okumura.” The half-demon sat straight and turned to the other expectantly. “Come sit here, please.” He parted a gap between his legs, despite his predicament screaming at him not to, to leave ample space for Rin to squidge into.
> 
> Rin smiled to himself. “I like this.” He leaned part of his weight into Suguro’s body just behind him. Subtle amounts of body heat passed through Suguro’s chest into Rin’s back. That of which, he loved the feeling of. It was seldom they shared close moments in public, though those were becoming a little more frequent the longer they dated. Suguro would have relished in the moment too, if not for the alarming twinge jolting in him with no pre-warning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry not sorry for the title pun)
> 
> Hi! I would have written this up earlier but school workload, and me participating in Omovember pretty much sucked up all my spare time until December. ^^'
> 
> The festival omo in this chap is inspired by something I saw at the Notting Hill carnival in August. There were some outdoorsy urinals in the crowded toilet area and I just got all these bladdershy character prompts. (Not that I hc Suguro to be particularly pee shy...). Suguro omo in this chapter because it's high time we see someone other than Rin got desperate, haha ;D
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

"Hey, hey, are you done?!" Rin incessantly tapped his knuckle on the dorm door.

"Yeah, I just- can't- tie this obi!" Suguro grunted from the other side as he struggled with the piece.

"Then let me come in and help you, man! I don't get why you gotta kick us out just to change!" It spelled nothing but raw silliness to him. Whenever Rin would change his clothes, Suguro felt obliged to stare but when _he_ wanted to change, the entire building has to evacuate. Rin couldn't possibly think of anything he had worth hiding. If anything, he had a well-built body worth _sharing._

It wasn't only him, Koneko and Shima had to leave the room too. After those three got happily changed in front of each other, they didn't even bat an eye at Suguro's kicking out. When Rin asked, they just shrugged and Shima said "Bon's been like that a while. Most of the time he's okay but you being here definitely contribute to this now."

That didn't satisfy Rin. He can excuse them since they're sort of family to Suguro, but as for himself, aren't they close enough to be in the same room for that?

"Fine! Get your ass in here and help me!" Another grunt came and a clack on the ground. Presumably, from his footwear.

At once, Rin barged in alongside the other two.

Rin could only stifle a laugh. Walking in, it seemed like Suguro was attempting gymnastics in his own room. He was crouching on the floor with one knee up. His back was arched and facing the tall mirror. His head was craned to see his reflection and his arms bent across his back, tugging at the obi running across his waist.

"What are you doing..." Rin shook his head, grinning. He motioned for Suguro to stand. Suguro kept his hands gripping it until Rin took over.

"What does it look like?" He sighed, letting his hands fall to the side.

Snorting, Rin took the narrow piece and re-wrapped it around the circumference of Suguro's waist. It was secure against his stomach. Through the tension, Rin could feel those toned muscles. Part of him wished to open his clothes and see them, maybe touch them.

Rin spent a minute or so making a neat enough knot at the back, tucking the leftover length into it.

Rin spun Suguro round and stepped back to take a full look. A grin rode its way up his face and widened at just how different yet snug Suguro looked.

There were many things to comment on but his hair was a considerable note. It had been parted sideways instead of the usual backwards, clipped with a few navy hairclips.

Shima and Rin likewise had their hair clipped back, Rin's being burgundy to match his red and white striped yukata, and Shima's being purple to match his violet and white wavy-patterned yukata.

"You're the one who wanted me to wear all this." Suguro muttered, adjusting his foot in the getas.

"I know. You look damn good." Rin stepped past Suguro to look into the mirror to line his lips with Shiemi's peach lip gloss.

"And you. Wait, you _still_ wear that?!"

"Of course." Rin pursed his lips, mushing them. "It makes my lips popping and kissable." He winked.

Suguro flushed, maybe a little more at annoyance than Rin's flirting. "You're so... ugh."

"Were you going to say 'You're so gay' but then remembered I'm bi and that you kinda are gay too and so retracted your sentence?" Rin raised an eyebrow, spraying on some cologne.

The lack of response must have meant he hit the jackpot.

Once everyone was ready, they filed out of the room. Suguro closed the door after them. "Alright, let's get moving."

It was a half hour ride on the train, though luckily there was no interchange. One straight train travelled to the centre of Tokyo. The four boys sat in two pairs on the seats that faced each other. Suguro sipped the black coffee he bought while waiting at the station and listened in on the rather heated tea vs coffee debate. It didn't get very far considering it was two against two.

 

The whole idea of this evening was Rin's; they had a day off school and they ought to do something special. The school weeks would only continue to trudge on relentlessly. This festival in Tokyo was one Rin and Yukio attended every year without fail, which was why he suggested his friends join him for the first time. A break was deserved and it would only take up a few hours of the evening. Eventually they all agreed and that was settled.

The closer they were to the station, the more people dressed just like them there were. That only heightened the excitement.

The gates to the venue were flooded with people, flocks of people ranging in heights and age. As expected, it was already so busy.

"Woow! So many people! And I thought we were early!" Rin yelled.

"If we were early, we'd arrive an hour ago!" Suguro swatted Rin's outstretched arm.

"Where should we go first? I'm in the mood to play those games." Shima's hands twitched in front of him.

Koneko interjected, lifting his finger up. "So am I, bur I think we should take a walk around the whole place and then see anything we particularly like before deciding."

They went with Koneko's suggestion in the end. They took a stroll while browsing the stalls. Their arms were linked so they wouldn't lose each other in the process. Rin and Koneko, the shorter of the two, stayed in between Shima and Suguro.

Activity bustled all around. It wasn't overpowering to Shima, Rin or Suguro but Koneko felt a tad apprehensive.

Rin felt the fingers holding onto his yukata sleeve tighten. He glanced down to see a sense of daunt on the bespectacled exwire.

"Hey. Don't worry, we got you." Rin spoke into his ear. He squeezed Koneko, giving the other a reassuring, sweet smile. That seemed to comfort Koneko. Â Koneko returned the smile, pressing closer to the half-demon. Rin accepted the gesture.

The four exwires checked out the various stalls made to offer. They consisted of food, games, ornaments, decor, fortune-telling and one even displayed various magic tricks.

"Heh, who even believes those tricks anyway?" Rin scoffed as they passed a stall bunch of children staring in amazement. The current trick was successfully picking the card they imagined in their head from out of the jumbled pack.

"I do..." Shima weakly held his hand up.

They soon had a try at many of the game stalls. Fortunately, these were at a low price so they had enough on them to try them all. Some were more simple. The shooting games were a breeze, thanks to Suguro's bazooka training paying off. The edible prizes were scoffed down by Rin and Shima, while the fluffy cat plush was handed to Koneko. It nestled in his arms for the rest of the evening.

Other games were more frustrating. _Yoyo Sukui_ seemed a little simpler than it actually was. Two hot-headed exwires in particular grew highly agitated at how easy the pick slipped off the string that was attached to the water balloons. Smaller, delicate handling was required and Koneko managed to pluck one balloon out with ease. He cast a smug look at the other impressed three before dropping the balloon in Shima's hands and motioning them to walk.

"What were we even doing wrong..?" Rin scratched his head.

"Beats me." Shima shrugged, playing with the bouncy orb in his hands.

"Anyway, I'm hungry for some fried food."  Rin declared, sauntering towards the blue-roofed stall where that mouth-watering smell lingered. "I'll buy everyone some."

The smell only got stronger the closer they got. They waited with the huddle after ordering. The stall was popular but they would soon find out why. It took some time - or was it their stomachs being impatient? - but festival fried food is _always_ worth the wait.

"Here. I got four Ikiyakis." Rin handed one squid stick to everyone. The four sat down on one of the empty tables in the designated eating area to properly enjoy their food. Suguro finished first and while he waited, he adjusted his hairclips and fanned himself with his foldable hand fan.

"Yeah, I agree." Rin laughed, resting his cheek on his palm as he watched.

"It's too hot here, damn." Suguro huffed, fumbling for a tissue to wipe the sweat formed on his skin.

"No..." Rin pointed a playful finger at him. "Not it's.  _You're_ the hot one here~."

Suguro stuttered through some inintelligible response, face growing warmer than it already was. He still wasn't able to react appropriately to Rin's compliments.

"I think we can all agree here. Right guys? ..Right Shima?" Rin turned to the pink-haired boy opposite him, looking for validation.

"Er, Okumura, I don't think either of us are the right people to answer that..." Shima added a nervous laugh to that.

"Why not? Wouldn't you go out with him?"

"Wait WHAT?! No, no, no, that's disgusting! Bon's like a brother to me! It's practically incest!" Shima almost shivered and cringed at the thought of that.

"So? Incest is wincest." Rin took a big bite of his squid, concluding his thoughts.

Koneko held a similar degree of discomfort on his face as Shima's. "I don't think someone with their own twin brother be saying that."

Rin almost choked at the realisation. That comment shut up him well and good.

****

* * *

 

 

The group had split off not too long after they finished their snack. Rin became hungry, again, and wanted to spend some time with just Suguro, so the decision was made. Normally, splitting off wouldn't have been desirable as it was easy to get lost in such a venue. Shima convinced everyone enough that their phones were sufficient for updating each other.

After some indecisiveness, Rin settled for a moderate helping of Kakigori. Suguro would have ordered one for himself too but the heavy feeling in his abdomen advised him not to. It seemed the large coffee from earlier had since been filtered through, and for quite some time, too.

 _The ice would only make things worse,_  he suspected, idly kicking at a stone while Rin paid for his cold treat.

"Want some?"

Suguro lifted his head to see a spoonful of syrupy ice right by his nose. He shook his head with a small smile. "No, it's fine-"

The ice was shoved into his mouth before he could finish speaking.

"Rhetorical question. You should know by now that I don't take no for an answer when it comes to food." Rin took a bite of his own, audibly crushing the ice with his teeth.

"Mm..." Without resistance, Suguro accepted defeat and let the ice melt in his mouth.

"Good, right?" Rin spoke, full-mouthed.

"Yeah, very good."

"Soo... we've got some time before the fireworks." Rin flicked through the leaflet given to them at the gate. "I think we should head over and find a good spot. Then, we can wait around until it starts."

"Sounds like a solid plan... for once."

"I'm learning from the best." Rin cast Suguro a proud grin.

With Rin's hands full, Suguro took to wrapping his arm around Rin, hand resting on Rin's hip just under the sash. They pressed the sides of their bodies close together to prevent getting separated. Not only that, but they heavily enjoyed the proximity. Very much so for both cases. Suguro's other hand drifted to his sash and he pulled on it, minimally loosening it and easing the pressure. He kept a loose grip on it for a while.

The distinct fullness of his bladder became more aware to Suguro the more the two walked on. In some respect, he could be glad Rin was fixated on his food rather than him. It allowed him to walk with his legs closer than usual without much questioning.

 _Dammit, how much have I drunk?_ He inwardly cursed as he retraced his mind to all the drinks he's had. There was that coffee - to keep him awake and alert. There was also that bottle of juice he sipped for a while to keep cool.

 _Great._ He'd been careless about fluid intake and now he was suffering the consequences. To that, he only sighed, wearily glancing around. _I should probably find a restroom then._

Suguro barely registered walking past them a minute or so earlier. There were signs plastered around, giving directions to the bathrooms. Said building was a little far now.

"Wait, why did we stop? Did you see the others?" Rin tried to peer over in thw same direction Suguro looked in.

"Wha- Oh, no, I thought I saw some pink hair over there, heh." Suguro also didn't register they had stopped walking. He removed his arm from Rin, using the movement to hide a subtle shifting on his foot.

In front of them lay a rather large patch of grass, a considerable number of people already sat or stood on it.

"Should we stand or sit?" Rin questioned, looking for an idea place to do either. He frowned when he was met with silence. "...Suguro?" Rin called, snapping his fingers in front of Suguro until he received a response.

"Yeah?" Suguro blinked, taking note of Rin's now empty hands. _He finished that already?_

"You're spacing out a lot." Rin cocked his head, taking a step forward. "Is the coffee buzz crashing?"

"That might be it, yeah." He cleared his throat. "I think we should sit. I wanna sit somewhere." Technically, it would have been a lot easier to just stand but by the rate his bladder was filling, Suguro knew he would have a hard time standing. Or at least standing still enough to deem normal.

"That might be better. Hmm..." Rin scanned around the place, briefly spotting the top of a low building where a few people gathered on top of.

"What about up there?" Rin tugged Suguro's sleeve, nodding his head upwards.

"Seems romantic enough-"

"Okay, then come on!" With Suguro's arm grabbed, Rin pulled the both of them into breaking a run, making a dash for the stairs that circulated around the sides. Their sandals clopped and clanked against the metal steps, their speed driven by Rin's excitement and - to an extent - Suguro's too.

"Hey, we don't need to run!" Suguro tried to wield some control by planting his feet more strongly, forcing some resistance against Rin's arm. He'd be lying if he didn't admit the jostling didn't do too good on the situation below his stomach.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." Rin slowed down his pace to a fast walk, his fingers curling into the sleeve in a sheepish manner. They reached the top soon enough and took a space on the edge of the roof-top. Rin, as always, took to sitting eagerly, but Suguro lowered himself a little slower than usual, careful as to not squishing his stomach too quickly. For added measure, or protection, a hand hovered over his abdomen.

He reasoned it'll probably be better to sit while holding it than to do the same whilst standing. He was right to think so; as soon as they were seated, the pressure produced from gravity acting on his bladder was no longer present. A small sigh was made inwardly, possibly escaping externally too. Either way, Rin hadn't questioned it.

Their legs dangled in front of them freely, all the while watching the area grow busier with people. They passed small comments and remarks every now and then, but it was near-silence for most of the waiting. The holding was bearable, manageable, all until the internal pressure rose back up again.

It was a surprise too. Surely the lack of gravity acting down on there wouldn't do such a thing? Yet, speculation proved wrong as a considerably strong wave surged through Suguro. To that, he bit his lips part-nervously, patiently waiting for it to subside and assuring himself it was just another urge. Shifting his hips discreetly, he turned to Rin next to him, who currently had a bored but cute pout on his face.

Part of Suguro wanted to take that hand that was resting Rin's cheek and interlock their fingers, or just any sort of touch to reassure him further, even if it was for something as silly as this that could easily be taken care of. It'd also provide some entertainment for Rin's impatience and boredom from having minimal responses from Suguro every time a conversation was initiated. Unfortunately, he did not act on that impulse, and Rin's hand was not disturbed.

For the added matter, it felt like Rin was sitting so far away when he was literally right next to him. Still, he wanted Rin to sit even closer, if just to help even a little.

He did act on this, starting with opening his mouth to speak. "Okumura." The half-demon sat straight and turned to the other expectantly. "Come sit here, please." He parted a gap between his legs, despite his predicament screaming at him not to, to leave ample space for Rin to squidge into.

Rin seemed to lighten up, shuffling and maneuvering himself until he was planted comfortably in front of Suguro and between his legs. Suguro had to move back a little to give Rin enough room to sit his butt. While moving back, the opportunity was seized to shift his crotch into the roof slate.

Rin smiled to himself. "I like _this."_  He leaned part of his weight into Suguro's body just behind him. Subtle amounts of body heat passed through Suguro's chest into Rin's back. That of which, he loved the feeling of. It was seldom they shared close moments in public, though those were becoming a little more frequent the longer they dated. Suguro would have relished in the moment too, if not for the alarming twinge jolting in him with no pre-warning.

He involuntarily straightened up at its immediacy. It wasn't a one-off either, the pulses began to drum dull and heavy, Suguro's body urgently reminded him that he _needed_ to relieve himself and pretty soon.

Pressing down hard into the roof no longer helped to hold his bladder so Suguro added a constant rocking and shifting of his hips as a means of providing some relief. He didn't realise this, but he was also subconsciously squeezing his thighs together, which pressed Rin's thighs closer together as well.

Rin took note of this, of course, but hadn't spoken up about it. In a general sense, it seemed maybe Suguro was growing restless and was trying to get comfortable. But, even after half a minute, Suguro was still making body movements behind Rin. The restlessness worked Rin up to part worry, part curiosity.

Suguro dug his fingers into his thigh fabric, drawing small whimpers that Rin's ears picked up on.

 _Okay, now something's_ **_definitely_ ** _up._ At this point, the frustration from Rin's account was building up at all of the moving and no explanation aside from unnecessary noises. This was confirmed when Rin began to feel Suguro _grind_ into his backside.

The contours of Suguro's junk could be felt, the heat expanding across Rin's cheeks. _He can't be serious!_ His mind went one way with that and one way only. Not that the moany-like whimpers were adding any more to that interpretation.

Taking enough of it, Rin whipped his head round, only to catch the site of Suguro's reddened face and uneasy expression.

That certainly didn't spell arousement, and laced Rin's face into concern. "What's wrong, Suguro?"

Suguro lessened the clench on his teeth, led to no choice but admit his need. "I _really_ need to use the restroom." He shifted, again, hands grabbing more fistfuls of the fabric and his knee bouncing.

Rin blinked. " _Oh._ Well in that case, let's go." He placed his hands to the ground, readying to stand.

"But the fireworks..!"

Rin checked the time on his phone. "We still have fifteen minutes left. We can go and come back in time. Don't worry about that, you taking a piss takes priority!" He tapped on Suguro's bouncy leg, motioning for him to get up so he could too.

At feeling another wave course within him, Suguro sucked in a wavering breath and reluctantly stood to his feet. He had to clamp his thighs shut and hunch over a little when he rose. After a few slow seconds, he gained the confidence to be sure he wasn't going to lose control absolutely everywhere. With Rin's gentle encouragement, he straightened up, albeit hesitantly.

His hands remained gripping at his sides. It served to prevent him grabbing in between his legs, no matter how badly he wanted to do just that. At other times - when he did grow that desperate - he'd take the technique through a jacket or coat pocket. This time, he had neither clothing and he'd never forgive himself for doing something he felt was shamefully and simply childish.

Rin pulled at Suguro's sleeve to guide his desperate date in the direction he vaguely thought the toilets were. If memory served him correct, they passed them on the way to the rooftop but that piece of information hadn't been important until right now. Suguro followed closely behind. He was thankful that he was being directed; that allowed most of his focus to setting his willpower on holding his piss in, for that little longer.

The first problem arose when they got to the bathroom areas. There were HUGE crowds around.

Rin now had the sleeve in both hands, pushing the two of them through the slowly progressing lines around that flowed on either side.

The restricted movement of people passing by meant that the exwires were jostled an awful lot. Suguro tried his best to not let the shaking amplify on the inside of his body. At one point, someone's elbow accidently jabbed his belly which elicited an audible gasp. His arms darted to cradle the point of abuse. Rin kept turning his head back at every worrying noise Suguro made. He rubbed at Suguro's arms with his thumb in an attempt to calm him.

In fact they were jostled and pushed around so much that they ended up in front of somewhere that wasn't necessarily the bathroom but pretty close.

A series of open, outdoor urinals stood before them. There was a small circle of them, very few occupants at them.

It was a shocker; neither were aware that outdoor ones like this existed. Not only that, they were also, well, _open._ This led to the second problem.

They were _far_ too open for Suguro's liking.

Rin looked at Suguro questioningly, shifting out of the way to allow the taller one access. Bewildered, Suguro took a step forward, studying the facility. There wasn't much to note; it was a simplified urinal to the standard white ones, this time grey with a compartment that stuck out in comparison to the rest. This presumably was where the user placed himself and aimed into, the urine going down the length. It ranged in heights, with the height of the one Suguro stood in front of being rather idea. A little bending at the knees and it'll be good.

As if his perception of sound had been heightened, the training Aria became hyper aware of all the noises surrounding the two. He turned, with furrowed brows and bitten lips, anxiously surveying the people passing along. He caught the sight of a young girl and boy, perhaps her older sibling, outright staring at him as the strolled past.

His face flushed hot. Suguro quickly broke the contact, turning his head away, away from everyone from being overcome with complete embarrassment. _I can't! Everyone can see and_ **_knows_ ** _what I'm doing!_

Rin moved to Suguro's line of vision, silently watching and waiting. Averting his gaze, Suguro shook his head vigorously. His knees locked together at the mere thought of relief.

Rin took initiative and stepped forward, pressing his mouth to Suguro's ear." You'd prefer an actual toilet right?"

"Y-yes." His voice almost cracked at the end. His legs inched closer to crossing over each other.

"Suguro, I don't know where the boy's toilets are..." Rin peered around on his tiptoes. "I mean they could be there but it'll be a nightmare to get through-"

"Where?!" Suguro snapped his head up, frantically scanning around. "Over there?!"

"Yeah, I _think_ so. 'Kay, come on." Rin squeezed into the crowd, keeping a stiff hold on Suguro's arm.

Rin could only groan at what he saw once they were free from the clusters of people.

There was a line. Yes, a _line_ for the men's bathroom.

It wasn't a very long one, to save some credit. The privacy of the indoor urinals and stalls were preferred by most men, it seemed. The two joined the back of the queue but a minute into waiting only proved they really had little time left on their hands.

Suguro's pride by now had completely dissipated and in a never-ending cycle, Suguro shuffled from one foot to the other, bouncing at each changeover. He fiddled with his hairclips, letting his part-blonde hair fall over his face. His head was ducked low, hiding his increasingly reddening face with the fringe.

Rin noticed just how much he was squirming. This certainly had to be one of the worst desperations Suguro had experienced. It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say he'd rather face Satan - king of all demons - than deal with this demon of a bursting bladder.

His lips quivered, just as much as everything else did. Every ounce in him was solely fixed on not relaxing that sphincter muscle. That muscle that was now throbbing from over-exertion.

 _How did he get so desperate?_ Suguro"s desperation only made Rin want to hold Suguro's body and comfort him. He feared touching Suguro's fragile form might be his undoing. Instead he kept a vigilant eye, hands at the ready in case anything disastrous were to happen.

There were two options: A, Suguro would wait it out until he reached the front and then make a dash for a stall or B, he'd suck it up and use those damn urinals. Both were within reach but if we went with the former, he was sure he'd leak substantially, possibly more than that, before securing one of the cubicles.

He grunted. "Fuck it." Swallowing, he let one of his white knuckled hands that was desperately jammed between his thighs grab Rin's wrist abruptly. At once, he spun on his heel and practically hobbled across. His need was bad, so urgent he wasn't willing to walk upright or remove his other hand from his crotch.

Back at the urinals, he mentally convinced himself it'll be fine and he _can_ relieve himself. Rin pressed his body flush against Suguro's back, fingers working to undo the knot at the back of the obi. "You got this, you got this."

Suguro squirmed on the spot, waiting for is yukata to loosen. Once it had, thankfully quickly enough, Rin moved his hands so one rested on Suguro's hip and the other around the base of Suguro's stomach. He cupped the exposed skin in his palm.

 _Jesus, that's a full bladder._ The skin was stiff under his fingertips, swelled from the sheer amount of liquid contained.

"Focus on me, okay? Nobody else is here."

Suguro gave a quick nod, while whipping his member from inside his boxers and aiming it into the designated region. Meanwhile, Rin grabbed Suguro's collar with his teeth pulled it down enough to expose part of his shoulder with. He tucked back his sharp canines and pressed his lips down.

He kissed the skin, firmly yet ever so softly. Suguro shuddered under Rin's glossy lips, not at the touch but at _finally_ getting the release he so craved.

The half-demon felt Suguro buckle as he went, so the hand at Suguro's waist wrapped around his chest to steady the poor guy. With Rin's other hand, he began to stroke at Suguro's bladder to encourage the voiding. Though Suguro's stream was strong enough to not need the encouraging, it still helped.

Eyes slid shut in relief, Suguro exhaled long, shakily and hard. He rested his head against Rin as gentle kisses continues to be trailed up and down his neck and around his shoulder.

The noises around them completely masked the splashing of Suguro's stream, so it was only a matter of position to indicate to Rin when Suguro was finished.

Even after his stream descended to lingering dribbles, neither had moved. Then, Suguro began to stir, panting hard and fluttering his eyes open from the trance. He blinked, regulating his breathing and senses. Rin retied his obi while Suguro shook the remaining pee droplets off and made to tuck himself away.

"What _was_ that?"

Rin gave Suguro's nape a quick nuzzle. "The stroking thing was something I read about online. Helps with people suffering with bladder shyness but still. As for the kissing, er, that was something I came up with on the spot." He nervously chuckled. "Did it help?"

"Immensely so." Suguro turned round fully. "Thanks."

Rin shrugged. "There's nothing to thank me for. It's high time I helped you this time since you always help me with-" Rin was about to turn before a twinge of his bladder made him change his mind. "H-hey, could I use..?" He gestured behind Suguro.

Suguro stepped back, the two swapping places as the smaller exwire positioned himself in front.

"Seeing you piss made me really need to go too." Rin briefly commented.

"Are you sure about this? You aiming is... problematic."

"I can try, can't I?!" Rin snapped, growing a little defensive. "I need to learn how to do it, anyway."

Without further debate, Suguro picked at the knot on the sash while Rin undid the hooks on the inside. He wriggled his boxers down to his mid-thighs and took his member in both hands. Exhaling deeply, he mustered self-confidence.

Much like Rin had done, Suguro's hands found their way to Rin's hips, idly rubbing small circles with his thumbs. If anything, it comforted Rin, gave him some reassurance he could do this.

"Press my bladder."

At his command, Suguro gently pressed the heel of his palm below Rin's stomach, which forced the restraints to weaken. Rin's stream came out weak at first but increased in strength. As much as Rin wanted to shut his eyes, he couldn't. He had to be vigilant in case anything did go haywire.

To his - or rather _their_ \- surprise, he did it. There was a little bit of splashing outside the intended area, ordinarily enough, but he more or less managed to aim right.

"Holy shit..." Rin mumbled, tucking himself away and working on the underhooks.

"Goddamnit Okumura, I ASKED you if you wanted me to help and now you've gone and wet-"

"No, no, it worked!" With a grin, he faced Suguro and gestured to his patchless front. "I'm dry!"

Suguro blinked, eyeing Rin up and down. "..Good." He seemed mildly impressed, hiding semi-shocked and semi-pride. Rin was finally progressing, why wouldn't he be a little proud? "Congratulations, you can piss while standin' like every other male."

"Shut up, nobody's perfect like you." Rin retorted. "I'm proud of myself and you should be too."

As they walked away, Suguro yanked Rin close to him. "Oi! You know, that was a huge gamble. What if you ended up pissin' all over yourself?!" He kept his voice low.

Rin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well I didn't! You're one to talk, it's not like you didn't take a gamble too." He poked him playfully.

That was true, yet Suguro still countered. "My situation was different from yours. I could have held it."

"Oh, _really_ now?" He smirked, eyes narrowing. "You were grinding into my ass earlier." Rin continued, even as he saw Suguro's face burn with realisation then mortification. "As well as jiggling your leg and holding your di...Okay, okay I'll stop."

"Please do." Suguro wasn't sure he could handle any more humiliation.

"Now come on! We still have time until the fireworks start!" Rin dragged Suguro through the wades of people. They raced back to the rooftop. A few more people gathered on it now, but their previous spot was thankfully still vacant.

They avidly sat back down, Rin sitting in front of Suguro like before. Only this time, Suguro felt far more comfortable and relaxed with the relieving emptiness of his bladder.

 

* * *

 

 

The first set of fireworks whooshed into the sky before reacting and exploding. Loud cheers drifted from around the crowds. Young children giggled at the colours and _bangs_ as everyone watched the sky become lightened by showers of amber sparkles. They dotted and scattered across the night sky, illuminating it.

The two exwires watched in awe and delight as even more fireworks shot into the sky with more pretty and bright colours. The combination chosen complimented each other, such as the likes of yellows and pinks, reds and blues... blues and oranges.

Suguro shifted forward, leaning into Rin though still keeping his gaze above. "Looks like the colours of your flames." He commented.

"And yours too!" Rin whispered back, placing a hand on your thigh. "The ones you inherited from your day back when we were in Kyoto."

"Remindin' me like it's a normal thing to have inherited flames."

Rin relaxed further into Suguro's body. "It makes us special."

Suguro only sniggered at that before they fell to silence again. _It makes_ **_us_ ** _special... Us._ Rin lowered his smile as he was reminded of a particular question he had on his mind, at least for a while now.

He drew his knees close to his chest, holding them with his arms interlocked at his hands.

They'd been going out for a short while now. Rin liked how things were. He knew Suguro liked how things were too. While that made him happy, he also wanted to take the next step.

He'd spoken to Shiemi before tonight and she agreed that he might as well ask it, given that he had a good chance to since they'd be together for the whole evening. Question was, exactly when?

It lingered in his mind when they walked around but it was difficult to find the perfect chance to. Now that it was jus them two and Suguro wasn't preoccupied - at least, aside from the bonfire show - Rin had an open window.

Suguro noticed that Rin was no longer paying attention to the show above and was heavily fixated at the roof slates. "Okumura, are you alright?" Suguro lightly touched Rin's shoulder.

 _It's now or never._ Rin bit his lip as he swivelled round to face the part blonde exwire and addressed him.

Suguro cocked his head at the intense level of seriousness riding on Rin's features. Rin grasped both of Suguro's wrists. He swallowed thickly before speaking again. "Suguro, I need to ask you something important."

"Yeah? What's up?" He waited until Rin made eye-contact with him.

"So, we've been going out for a while now. And I'm really liking going out with you and things. I _like_ you. I-I really do. And I wanted to ask you this tonight, so..." He paused, summing up the courage along with Shiemi's enthusiasm from earlier. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

 

Rin bit his tongue, waiting for Suguro's response. However many times he imagined this scene, _this_ response was not one of them.

"Aha- you wha- _will_ I be your-" Suguro managed to blurt out before transcending from a chuckle into full-blown laughter.

"S-Suguro? W-what's so funny..?" RIn could feel his heart thumping away. _Was that a stupid question?! Did I fuck things up?!_

"Why are you _askin'_ me to be your-" Suguro cut himself off with another guffaw, on hand clutching at his chest.

"Because I don't know, I thought that's what you were supposed to do." Rin's face flushed red.

Seeing the slightest hint of upset on Rin's face killed the laughter. "Oh man, _Okumura..._ You are so precious _._ " He shook his head, grinning disbelievingly. There was some fondness in his expression. "There is no need for any askin'. I don't think so, at least. Besides, I thought I already was your boyfriend."

Rin continued to bashfully fidget. Suguro noticed this and cleared his throat. "Wait what..?"

He took Rin's wrists in his hands this time, rubbing his thumbs over the pisiform bones that poked out. "What I was meant to say was: Yes, of course I will. I'd love to be your boyfriend."

Rin's face lightened brighter than the fireworks above them ever could. He gasped in delight, looking up from their laps. "Eh, really?!"

"You know I'd never say no." Suguro playfully nudged Rin's chin with his fist. "I'm serious about you."

With a very pleased grin, Rin squealed into Suguro's chest and flung his arms around the older boy. Suguro's hands rest on the small of Rin's back, feeling his tail thumping around under the yukata.

"That's friggin' awesome. Thank you." He smiled into the crook of Suguro's neck.

Rin heard a chuckle. "Anything for you. I mean that."

They hung there, just listening to the booming in the skies above and the chatter of people around and below them.

Suguro rested his head against the half-demon's, the soft locks brushing and tickling his chin. Rin clutched at the collar of Suguro's clothes, twirling the fabric around his fingers. The tension he had seeped out of him as he inhaled Suguro's familiar scent.

Suguro's phone began to vibrate. With a groan and some fishing around, he answered the call. He muttered "It's Shima" before pressing the phone to his ear.

"Hey."

_"Hey Bon! Where are you two?"_

Suguro leaned forwards as he saw two individuals stand up below them and looking around. "Haha, I see you guys. To your left. No, that's your right, idiot. Left! LEFT! More left! Yeah, now look up to the building."

He saw Shima tap Koneko and quint until he noticed Suguro wave his hand around. Rin grabbed the phone and tucked it into Suguro's other ear so he could hear too.

_"Whaaaat?! You got best seats!"_

"Hm, well first come first served."

_"Fuck you! Should've told us you were watchin' up there."_

"I guess I forgot about someone as insignificant as you." He scoffed as he noted Shima flip him off.

_"Anyway, 'Neko was sayin' we should start headin' off now. But if you don't wanna break your snuggly time with Okumura, we can stay."_

"Yes, more snuggly time!" Rin mumbled, shaking Suguro by the collar.

"No, no, we should probably go now." Suguro flicked his wrist to check the time. "Yeah, it's getting late."

 _"Alright. Come meet us at the gate exit. It's not to far off here."_ Shima pointed to their right.

"Sounds good. See ya." Suguro ended the call. He had to wait until Rin moved off him. He waited but Rin stayed as he was, no indication of stirring anytime soon.

"We're going now Okumura."

Rin remained still, holding onto Suguro tighter.

He tapped Rin's arms. "Okumuraaaa..."

With a whine, Rin begrudgingly scooted over and got to his feet. Suguro got up afterwards and began to maneuver around everyone else seated or standing. He took the first step and then extended his hand to Rin. Rin accepted it and he was guided with Suguro around the roof and down to the floor.

Something was different about this, though. Something in its manner.

Suguro's fingers adjusted themselves from the back of the younger exwire's hand to the webbing in-between the fingers. It was tight, so he could pull Rin alongside but gentle, in a way that showed more than practicality, showed feelings.

It clicked in Rin's mind: _We're holding hands?_ He always wondered how it felt to hold hands with someone he liked. Sure, he's hand his hand in other people's before. That was usually to help him to his feet or in class activities where linking hands was necessary. It would only last a few seconds and it was more of a requirement at those times than voluntary or for other purposes. _This,_ was actual hand holding.

He fantasised situations where he'd swing their arms - him and his date - back and forth, being happy and cheerful. Watching other couple do it seemed like the nicest feeling in the world.

He was right. It felt incredibly comforting. It was pleasant and so much more than a gesture. Rin could understand that Suguro really did mean it when he said he cared about him. It was indirectly communicated by how Suguro's rough fingers held on Rin so strongly and carefully. Rin relished in it far more than he thought he might.

He returned the gesture, squeezing Suguro's hand back. Their fingers intertwined as they walked down the stairs. Rin could feel his fingers get sweaty from his uncertainty but Suguro didn't pay much mind to it.

But the warmth disappeared as soon as they were on ground and within sight of people. Suguro had retracted his hands back and they fell to his sides. Rin stopped walking, looking down at their hands that were now disconnected.

"I don't do much… public affection." Suguro wiped the sweat off his hands onto his clothes.

Though disappointed by the emptiness, Rin nodded. _I forgot Suguro doesn't like showing affection when we're out and about._

"I promise I'll kiss you proper as soon as we get back. I've been dyin' to this whole time."

That promise made Rin bounce back, whispering a _Yesss!"_ and pumping his fists. "I look forward to that."

"Oh, you will."

The wait was worth it; as soon as they got into Rin's room, Suguro pressed Rin's back right against the door to close it, hands on waist and lips connected in a matter of moments. Arms wrapped around each other and they deepened the kisses and slid their eyes shut. They melted in the taste of each other, lost in each other's embrace, barely noticing the third occupant at the desk.

"Please be aware you do have people trying to work in here." Yukio deadpanned, after enduring the cringy wet kiss noises for long enough.

"Just let us be, Yukio. We're _boyfriends_ now." Rin murmured, nuzzling Suguro's nose before planting a final kiss on his lips.

 

_That's right; boyfriends._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Comments as always are appreciated, it'll be awesome to hear your thoughts on their festival date. It certainly was an interesting evening~
> 
> Unfortunately, I can't give a time period for when the next chapter will be up. I have reeeeally important exams in six months (I need good grades to get into uni) so I gotta give priority to revising the content of them. Hopefully I can update around March, maybe earlier, maybe later. We'll see...  
> Happy holidays everyone! <3


	12. Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "S-Shiemi..." He gasped, his breathing less shallow now, more constant than ten minutes ago.
> 
> "Yes, Rin?" He felt a comforting squeeze, only then realising that her hands were holding his.
> 
> “I-I-I think I’m in… l-lo..” was the best he could manage before he felt his throat lock up again.
> 
> “Shh. Slowly now. Take your time.” Shiemi’s voice was laced in soft sweetness, the kind of quiet voice that cooled down his senses. She squeezed his hand once more, encouraging him to go on.
> 
> Rin sniffed heavily, pressing his lips into a fine line. He tried to a speak a second time, with more clarity. “I think I’m in love w-with Suguro.”
> 
> Despite the fumble, it was clear enough. There was a pause, as expected. Her hand in his loosened and he could feel her eyes staring at him, even if his own were cast down to his covered lap.
> 
> It only just hit him that he vocalised this thought. Before now, it was all in his head. Attacked with the urge to get up and run off, he stood his ground. No, he needed to stay and talk this through with someone. That someone couldn't be any other than Shiemi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya~! It's midnight at the time I'm posting this and I should be asleep by now because I have school tomorrow but oh well. 
> 
> This chapter wasn't in the original plan but I guess there needs to be an intermediate between Ch11 and Ch13 otherwise it'll be a bit of a jump. But who says you need to stick to the script when it's your own work? :p

It was a new, buzzing feeling to refer to each other as their boyfriend.

Looking at it simplistically, it was merely a label, much like a name or a title. Yet, at the same time it so much more than that. 

The first time one of them had used the title instead of their customary surnames, the other was thrown into all sorts of giddiness, a pleasant warmth spread through their blood. It was an odd, yet welcoming feeling to be called _theirs_ , to actually _belong_ to each other. Suguro was Rin’s; Rin was Suguro’s. A simple yet complex two-way street that would prove tough to wrap their heads around and get used to.

Alongside officialising their relationship, other changes were noted. Some of these were small, some were big. For one, Suguro started showing his affection more in public. The majority of it was kept to private, per usual, when they were alone in an empty classroom or behind closed doors. If Yukio was around, his presence became less of a bother to either of the exwires. Despite this, there still was an issue with being in proper public. Something was still holding him back.

Rin felt like they were making progress so to test it out, he tried to slip his hand into Suguro’s whilst walking around school. Suguro immediately shoved both his hands into his pockets.

The only response Rin got was a shake of the head from Suguro without making eye contact. That was all that was needed to confirm it: They hadn’t made any progress, after all _._ Rin wasn’t going to let this rejection go. 

“Suguro, am I an embarrassment to you?”

Is that what Suguro wanted, their relationship to remain secret? Was it the fact their one was gay in amongst the straight couples at their school? Or was it simply: Rin? Could it be because he was the Son of Satan? Rin was pretty sure Suguro couldn’t give a damn about that. Or was he fearful of the consequences? What consequences? The insecurities swarmed around in Rin’s mind, after the first one spilled out.

Suguro froze in his step, purely taken aback by Rin’s question. “ _What?!_ No! How could you say such a- Okumura, you could _never_ be an embarrassment to me!”

“Then why won’t you let me kiss you or even hold your hand in public?”

“It’s because I- look, come here.” Suguro took hold of Rin’s arm, scanning around for somewhere quiet. He found an empty classroom soon enough and pulled Rin into it, shutting the door after him. 

“It has absolutely nothin’ to do with you, or anythin’ like that. I’m astounded you even thought that. I mean, did someone say somethin’ to you?”

“No, I just… A few months back, when we started dating, you never seemed to want me touching you in a way that suggested we were romantically involved. But that only applied in public. I thought at the time that maybe you weren’t very flirty or it was early days for PDA. So I waited until we got more comfortable, but you’re still the same as before.” Rin’s voice quietened, his hand finding the handle. “Look, it’s no big deal, I’m fine with-”

Both of Suguro’s hands slid over Rin’s, prying the hand off the door. “No, you’re not fine with it. Let me reassure you, I don't feel ashamed about anythin’ whatsoever. If anythin’, it’s a privilege to be datin’ you…” He added under his breath. Then, came a long sigh. “It’s me. I have a problem with public affection. I find it hard to do it where other people can see us. It could be me finding it annoyin’ when seein’ other couples suckin’ each other’s faces off whilst bein’ oblivious to other public members who don’t wanna see that. Maybe I don’t wanna add to that.” Suguro paused to think about what he said. “Man, I feel really selfish for sayin’ that…”

“It’s not selfish.” Rin’s brows creased in thought. “I get it. You’re not really comfortable with PDA-”

In a split second, Suguro, banged open the door, shoved Rin out of the classroom and crushed his lips together with the shorter boy. The mass of Suguro’s entire body, along with Rin’s imbalance, caused the both of them to topple to the ground.

As much as Rin would have liked to engage in a make-out session, he was the one aware they were in the middle of the corridor and blocking the path of others, at school nonetheless. His hands cupped Suguro’s cheeks before breaking the kiss.

“I _am_ comfortable! See?”

“Woah, Jesus, when I said ‘PDA’ I didn’t mean fricking pounce on me… Ow…” Rin managed to sit up even with Suguro’s weight on him. He rubbed his lower back which hurt from whacking the floor so harshly.

“Are you complainin’?” Suguro lightly slapped Rin’s cheek in mock annoyance. “I thought you might be more grateful.” 

“And I _am_ grateful! Okay, your point is proven.” They helped each other to their feet promptly.

“And for the record, I love goin’ out with you, love datin’ you and everything. Hell, maybe-”

 _I love_ **_you_ ** _._

He froze in his tracks. Those words almost slipped out of his mouth, carelessly. Every part of his body shut down in an instant.

This was the first time since becoming a couple, that those three cliché words popped up in his mind.

_Love? Am I… in love with Okumura?!_

He was jolted back to reality from Rin’s last yell. He was still standing, miraculously, albeit some jostling of his shoulders from Rin.

“Hey…” Rin’s voice softened once Suguro became responsive. He tucked a strand of hair behind Suguro’s ear. “You alright?”

Suguro found himself unable to answer. Wordlessly, his eyes fell down to their feet. He swallowed, trying to push down the large lump that formed in his locked-up throat. He gestured with his head for them to continue their walk.

Whilst doing so, he tried his best not to let his shaking become visible. In all honesty, his legs felt like jelly, barely able to hold him upright and threatening to give way at any moment. 

“What happened? You, er… You were telling me that you loved dating me and midway through your sentence, you suddenly became an ice cube. Man, I was gonna kick you in the nuts if you stayed frozen like that, you know!”

Of all things Suguro shared with Rin, this was something he just could not say. Suguro’s mouth became dry, so he fruitlessly rolled his tongue around in his mouth to wet it with saliva. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

Rin scowled. “You never keep secrets from me. What’s going on?”

“Another time, Okumura. I’m gonna be late for class.” While it was true, it was also just an excuse. Tonight, he was _really_ going to have a sit down and think this new light through.

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


Lewin Light was a cause of changes once he entered Suguro’s life.

Socially, there was much to comment on. Now that Suguro had officially became Lewin’s apprentice - that he had worked very hard to do so by begging mercilessly until eh was appointed - he was often out on business with his new master. He’d often return to his room late at night hungry, tired and in need of the bathroom. Despite what it may suggest, Rin wasn’t too affected by Suguro spending so much time with Lewin. Sure, that meant he only really saw Suguro during school hours, but Suguro endlessly reassured and proved that he was still committed to Rin. He became busier, so Rin busied himself too. Everyone around them were getting busy anyway, something Rin would have to adapt to.

Suguro’s appearance changed too. With the blonde mohawk running across his hair cut off, all was left was short, dark chestnut hair with an undercut. As with Shima, Rin missed the old Rooster look. It had given him a sort of quirk, something distinct and unique among the other average students. Suguro reasoned his decision with him finding a new motivation. It was a marvel, all these changes taking place because of one South American Arc Knight. Every time Lewin would call or text Suguro’s phone, Rin liked to poke at the joke of it being love at first sight, that Suguro was major man-crushing on him. Of course, it was denied over and over. Rin even dared to joke that he was being two-timed. This was also denied.

Rin knew Suguro was too committed to do something like that. He just knew.

Fortunately, Suguro had an evening free of Lewin’s endeavours tonight. A study date was took its place instead. It was the first one they had in a while and they both missed studying in the evening together.

Rin watched Suguro subconsciously run his hand along his fresh undercut for the umpteenth time this week. “Still not used to it?” 

“No. It feels a lot more breezy behind here.” The spiky bristles that were once thick locks prodded into his fingertips.

“Do you miss it?” Rin absent-mindedly spun his ballpoint pen on his finger.

The small sag of Suguro’s shoulders indicated he did. “It was high time I got a haircut. It was getting too long. Please tell me you’re over it by now.”

Rin pouted in thought, crawling from his chair into Suguro’s open and inviting lap. “No… but I can get used to it.” He laced his fingers into Suguro’s hair. It would take some time to adjust to the rough feel of it.

Suguro was occupied at the moment after hearing his phone vibrate on the desk. While he was quickly texting back Lewin, Rin sat on Suguro and idly caressed his head.

“You sound more upset than I should be, it’s my hair after all-” Suguro glanced up from his screen right into Rin’s eyes, looking back at his all the same. But not _all_ the same. “Woah, holy shit! What’s up with your eyes?”

“What..?”

“Your pupils have dilated!” Suguro took hold of Rin’s chin, jerking his head down to get a closer inspection.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, it’s a little freaky if you ask me.”

The room was relatively bright with the room light and the desk lamp on. Scientifically speaking, his pupils should be smaller given the ample light in the room. What else would it be?

“You’re not… takin’ drugs are you?” 

“Pff, what? No! Where would I get them… from…”

It then clicked.

_Your pupils dilate when looking at the one you love._

This was a saying he’d heard somewhere. Just those buzzwords from Suguro brought the words back.

Rin swore everything within him went right rigid, except maybe for two notable organs. His eyes widened to an impressive size and his heart thumped hard inside his ribcage. Any harder and it might actually pop out entirely. He breathing shallowed, his hand going lame before tremoring. He was left unable to say, do or hear anything except for these words repeating again and again.

“Okumura..?” Suguro took Rin’s hands in his and face contorted into outright alarm at feeling the trembling. “Okumura, what? What is it?” He squeezed the hands in tight, unadulterated concern.

Rin knew he needed to get out of there, _immediately_. No place was set in mind, yet, but it had to be anywhere but here. He gave the bullcrappiest of excuses to Suguro before hastily clambering off his lap and scrambling out of the room.

_Am I in love with Suguro?!_

 

 

* * *

  


 

He paid Shiemi a surprise visit.

Non-official exorcists weren’t allowed in the Suppliers shop ran by the Moriyama family, that he was aware of that, but he wasn’t here to stock up.

He needed Shiemi.

Fortunately for him, said girl was the one manning the store tonight. She’d been quietly flicking through her demonology textbook, testing herself on the new terminology from this week when Rin swung the door wide-open, panting hard. She hurried to his side, trying her best to calm him down as she sat him down by the table and made hot tea for him.

He wasn’t in a good mind-set at all; right from the hair strands that stuck to his sweat-glistened face to his considerable shivering and shaking. Shiemi carefully wrapped a shawl around his shoulder - two in fact - and wiped the sweat off his forehead with tissues.

It took a while before she could get a word out of him. 

“S-Shiemi...” He gasped, his breathing less shallow now, more constant than ten minutes ago. 

“Yes, Rin?” He felt a comforting squeeze, only then realising that her hands were holding his.

“I-I-I think I’m in… l-lo..” was the best he could manage before he felt his throat lock up again.

“Shh. Slowly now. Take your time.” Shiemi’s voice was laced in soft sweetness, the kind of quiet voice that cooled down his senses. She squeezed his hand once more, encouraging him to go on.

Rin sniffed heavily, pressing his lips into a fine line. He tried to a speak a second time, with more clarity. “I think I’m in love w-with Suguro.”

Despite the fumble, it was clear enough. There was a pause, as expected. Her hand in his loosened and he could feel her eyes staring at him, even if his own were cast down to his covered lap.

It only just hit him that he vocalised this thought. Before now, it was all in his head. Attacked with the urge to get up and run off, he stood his ground. No, he needed to stay and talk this through with someone. That someone couldn’t be any other than Shiemi.

“...When did you start thinking this?”

Rin had never talked about the possibility of loving Suguro to her. Not once, not ever. There was talk about love but only in a general sense. Neither of them had any idea how to actually handle it when that time _did_ come.

Neither did they know it would come so soon, no less.

“Before I came here.” Rin’s stuttering became less now, which was a good sign. “I was studying with Suguro in my room. We were talking about his... haircut..? And he suddenly looked at me and got kinda freaked out because apparently… my pupils dilated when I looked at him.”

“It’s like that saying you told me the other day..! _Oh_...” Her mouth made a small ‘O’, that look of ‘Things just hit the fan’ plastered on her face.

“What do I do?” He croaked, eyes filled with helplessness and desperation. In all honesty, Shiemi didn’t have a clue _what_ he should do. Granted, she didn’t have a clue with how to deal with just about _anything_ concerned with Rin’s love life, nor with actual _love_. 

It made sense in her mind, though, with the amount of time Rin and Suguro spent together and the more their romantic relations flourished and deepened, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It was natural for things to change like this - natural, but heavy, emotional and heart-wrenching along the way. Such was evident by Rin’s current mess of a state.

Nonetheless, there was only one logical solution that Shiemi knew he was capable of.

“Well, you have to tell Suguro you love him.”

Her answer sounded simple enough. He told Suguro lots of things. Even things that were went to the depths of personal or embarrassing, he’d tell him. 

In no way was this going to be easy, though.

“How? I can’t, I don’t even-...” How was Rin supposed to go up to him and tell him something he could wrap his own head around? Whining quietly, Rin leaned into Shiemi’s shoulder.

“I know you can. You’ve told him you had continence issues, you’ve told him you liked him, you even asked him out first! This will be hard, but… how long are you going to hide this from him?”

“As long as it takes.” Rin mumbled into her shoulder.

“You don’t have to tell him straight away. Take your time, build up that confidence that I _know_ you have in you and have demonstrated endless times in the past. Even if it takes many months for you to finally confess, you keeping silent is only going to make things more complicated and painful for the both of you.”

“What if he rejects it? Things might be too early, he might think we’re too young for this sort of thing. What if it all goes wrong and I end up being miserable for the rest of my time at this academy?”

“Don’t say that. Come on Rin, you know Suguro would never, ever reject you. He is too invested in you. He’s been through so much with you to leave you now. He said that to you.”

Rin adjusted himself so his head was now resting in her lap. Shiemi stroked his hair and Rin closed his eyes.

One day, he’ll sum up the courage to confess to him. Even if it takes a long time he will. He has to, for his sanity, for his well-being.

Little did Rin know, Suguro was feeling all the same.

  


* * *

  
  


“You’re in love~” 

Suguro snapped back into reality, dropping the smile he’d been holding for goodness knows how long. He promptly swivelled round on his seat, facing Lewin who was resting his cheek on a fist. The familiar smirk was spread across his lips, as per usual.

“Sorry. How long was I..?”

“Hm, not very long. Maybe five or so seconds?” He spoke lazily, his words stretched out.

Rin had come by to hand Suguro some home-made lunch. While doing so, Lewin silently observed their interaction with a bemused smile. He noted how Suguro’s face lightened up in Rin’s presence and the goofy smiles they exchanged. After he left, that sweet smile transgressed into bitter-sweetness.

That longing look wasn’t too difficult to decipher.

“Ah, young love.” He stopped slouching forward. “Say, you’ve been with him a long while, huh? Pretty committed.”

“How do you know that?” Suguro’s brows furrowed. He didn’t remember mentioning Rin to him yet.

“The Order. They know of your special someone. We’d been informed you two were dating. Not in a way to be used against you, of course. Since we can’t really interfere with his personal life, we just have to let you two be.”

Frustration built up in Suguro. “God, can’t everyone just leave us alone? Does anyone nowadays understand the concept of privacy? Our relationship has nothin’ to do with you, or them, or anyone!”

“I know. It just so happens that your little boyfriend is also a Son of Satan and still faces the threat of execution if he does anything that upsets the Order. They’re keeping a close eye on him for a reason. And anyway, I could tell something was between you two when you helped to clean my room.”

It wasn’t everyday that any old teenager offered to clean a messy and filthy room. The glances the two boys shot each other were fairly hinting. If he put aside the quick peck Rin planted on Suguro’s cheek, of course.

“Dammit, you saw that.”

“Yes, _that_ I did! It was cute, you know. I was waiting to see if you’d kiss him back.”

Suguro averted his gaze. “I don’t really do that in public.”

“Ah, the private type then.” Lewin chuckled. “Sounds about right, from what I’ve gathered about you so far. I’m guessing Rin’s a more public person then, hm~” 

Suguro held his tongue until Lewin finished his sentence. “Pardon me, but he’s _Okumura_. Only a few select people can call him by his first name.” Suguro crossed his arms defensively.

“So?” Lewin shrugged. “I call you Ryuji.”

“T-that’s because you’re my master… You can address me how you like.” Suguro shifted on the seat.

“Haha, ‘master’? What a title, I’m honoured.” Lewin mimed a fan with his hand. “Is that how you see me as?"

  
“Yes. What else would I call you? If I’m your apprentice, you’re my master. It’s logical.” Suguro curtly pointed out. 

Lewin’s smirk dropped a tad as he leant in. “Hey, you want some advice for your relationship?” 

Suguro wordlessly glanced up at Lewin, sitting up straight and gave him his full attention.

“I’d say you shouldn’t be afraid to take some risks. Of course, don’t do anything absolutely absurd. His heritage already leaves a huge question mark to everyone. But you seem to be unaffected by it… which is a good thing. You let him have a chance at love, let him into your heart despite it all. You’ve seen past it when most people would be too afraid to do so.”

That had never crossed Suguro’s mind, not even before he considered dating him. Rin being a half-demon wasn’t something that made him hold his feelings back or quash them. Perhaps that was because Rin’s revelation happened before he knew or began to grow these fond feelings.

“He’s good. Okumura’s a good guy. He’s a lot more level-headed than you are, which balances things!” Lewin leaned over to flick at Suguro’s head.

“I’m workin’ on that!!” Suguro swatted Lewin’s hand away.

“I can see that.” Lewin let out a laugh. “You’re more calmer now, especially after chopping off your blonde hair.” Under his black bangs, he could sense the daggers Suguro was shooting him. “Don’t worry, your old hairstyle was cool. This one’s just as cool and non-punky.”

“Well, like it or not, it’s not coming back.” Suguro instinctively ran his hand over his short hair.

There was a sigh from Lewin before he reigned the conversation back in. “Look, I know it’s hard to talk about these kinds of things when you two are still, what? Fifteen-sixteen years old?  You two do suit each other, in ways, but you two are still young. I’d say it’s a little too young to be feeling things so soon, but hey, teenagers, hormones. In the end, I guess only you would know if it’s gonna be a long-term thing. Are you serious about Okumura?”

That was a no-brainer. “Absolutely. I care about him so much.”

Another chuckle came from Lewin. “That’s nice to hear. And you’ve told him how you feel?” He was met with silence from Suguro and a flash of guilt on his features. “Strange. You’re always very direct with what you wanna say. Any reason?”

Suguro gripped the sides of his seat. “I don’t even… know myself if it’s true. If I really… feel that deeply for…”

“It _is_ hard. It’s not easy coming to terms with it. Love, I mean.” He clarified. “Feelings are complicated. Scary at times, too. So my best advice for you, Ryuji, is to take time to understand your feelings. Talk things out with him, if necessary. It’ll give you a better picture of how he is feeling too. When you’re ready, confess to him. Heh, you never know, he might even…” Lewin raised an eyebrow hintingly but unfortunately, it went over Suguro’s head.

“Might what?”

“Aw, _you know_ …”

Suguro didn’t know.

“Or maybe you’ll know soon enough.”

  


* * *

  
  


It wasn’t unusual that Rin came to the Kyoto boys’ dormroom when Suguro wasn’t around. What was unusual was that he came around _knowing_ he wasn’t around and took advantage of that. The look on Rin’s face showed that he clearly wasn’t here to chill. He rarely looked so serious - or nervous, either.

He barely opened the door before nattering. “Guys, I gotta talk to you about something important- oh wait, is it a bad time?”

“Uh, no, I think we’re good?” With an additional affirmative nod from Koneko, Rin proceeded, after a few deep breaths.

“What if I were to tell you I might be in love with Suguro?”

“...Shut the door, Okumura.” Rin did as he was told, kicking it closed with the heel of his foot. Shima beckoned Rin to take a seat on the edge of the bed. Koneko joined him likewise on the other side. “Like, head over heels in love..?” Shima spared Koneko a knowing glance.

“I said I _might_ be. So maybe? I mean, I don’t know really. It’s all really confusing right now. I _think_ I am, at least.” Rin’s hands picked and grasped at his knees as he kept his eyes cast down.

“I would say,” The smallest of the three shuffled closer to Rin on the bed. “I’m really happy for you. Even though we’re fifteen and nearing sixteen, we’re all still young, but the fact that you’ve managed to find love. For it to be for _Bon_ , too.” He gave Rin’s shoulder a friendly squeeze, giving him a little shake to encourage Rin to look upward to them.

Rin exhaled softly through his nose. “I wanted to ask you both, since you’ve basically lived with him all your life. What does he think about love? O-or about me?” Rin’s thumbs twiddled in a similar fashion to how Suguro’s did when he got nervous.

“Ah, you don’t need us to tell you that! You already know what Bon thinks about’cha. He’s crazy for you!” Shima waved his arms around in emphasis.

“Anything we know, you know.” Noticing the grubbiness of the lenses, Koneko took his glasses off and went over to his desk. “To tell you the truth, he tells _you_ the things he’s thinking or feeling more than he tells us nowadays.” He sprayed the lens with the small spray and wiped with the small cleaning cloth.

“What, really? So he doesn’t talk about me?” It was a wonder that he was only finding out about this now, and not way earlier.

“Not a whole lot. Aside from a few mentions here and there. You don’t blab on about Bon to your brother, right? It’s the same on this side too. Besides, we can always rely on his body language. You know how expressive he can be.” They all laughed, knowing exactly what Shima meant. In Suguro’s circumstance, actions did speak louder than words.

Koneko cleared his throat after a few. “Anyway, to answer your FIRST question, Bon, he… I know he doesn’t believe in the whole ‘love at first sight’ concept.” A low hum of approval came from Shima. “It kind of ties in with him being a demisexual, in a sense. Love isn’t something he can really see happening unless he grows a close and strong bond with someone. It _can_  happen, is what I’m saying. It is possible. It’s just not spontaneous.”

Rin shifted position so he was now cross-legged on the bed, resting his cheek against his closed hand. His eyes traced the pattern of Shima’s sheets. “So is it likely he’ll hate me for it?”

Shima let out a surprised laugh. “ **_Hate_ ** _you?!_ That’s impossible!”

 _Because he loves you_ **_too_ ** _!_

These words sat on both the Kyoto boys’ tongues through the whole of this conversation. They’d sensed a change in the way Suguro acted around Rin. When before it was clear as day Suguro had strong feelings for the half-demon, that nervousness and insecurity blossomed into great ease, stability and comfort. He became calmer, content and uplifted in the presence of his Rin. Once Rin left the room for someplace else, there was a shift in emotions. The shift was subtle in the way he stared off into the direction Rin went in, the longing that flashed along with him remembering his hidden true feelings. Yet, the subtlety was felt by his two childhood friends - family, even. Upon agreement, this led to the two to confront Suguro about his first love.

This perhaps doubled as Suguro’s chance to talk things through with someone other than the voice in his head. There was no beating around the bush; Suguro didn’t seem surprised in the slightest that those two deducted it before his own self-acceptance. They knew him inside-out and outside-in. The three talked, for a long time, about his deep attraction to Rin. The honest, raw truth and feelings. So Shima and Koneko already knew Suguro loved Rin before Rin came tonight and spilled the beans about the exact same.

The love was mutual.

They had to hold their tongue, though. They couldn’t be the ones to break it to Rin. Suguro has to. The time for that would come when he was ready to.

“Look, the _last_ thing Bon would do is reject you! He cares way too much. He’s said to us he wouldn’t wanna leave you unless it was life or death, or if it was to protect you.”

Rin hoped it would never come down to that. If anything, Rin should be the one breaking their relationship off to protect Suguro, not the other way round. Rin would - and he’d swear to this - do _anything_ to spare his boyfriend’s life. Of course, he knew better than to throw his life around like that. Especially given the fact that his father let him live instead of ending his life as per instructed by the Order. Shiro saved his life a second time and this was in no way something to be taken lightly. With that said, if Rin had a choice, he’d want to prioritise Suguro over himself. It seemed a no-brainer to prioritise the life of a normal, full human over a wanted half-human, half-demon that exposed danger if left to reach his full potential as a demon.

Still, knowing that Suguro would throw himself in the same way was a nice thought.

“This is… difficult. It’s all new to me. Suguro and I haven’t spoken about this at all. It’s hard to know what’s right or what’s wrong.”

It wasn’t the case that they were avoiding this line of conversation. Rather, it was that it never crossed either of their minds that their relationship could turn into one so deep, serious and meaningful.

“All new to us too. That’s why you gotta talk things out. Like how we’re doing right now. Like how you always do.”

RIn told Suguro almost everything that happened day-to-day. From the silliest of things to the most personal ones. Few things were omitted - his love for him would be the biggest secret of all. It held weight, it wasn’t something he could easily blurt out of the blue. This was - and he meant _really -_ serious.

“Thanks, Shima, Konekomaru.” Rin swung his legs round and got off the bed, making for the door. “Seriously, you’ve been real great help and given me good advice.”

“Anytime, Okumura. Our door’s always open, if you need to talk some more.”

“You okay, bud?” Shima questioned, just before Rin shut the door behind him. He halted, keeping his fingers by the frame to keep it from closing.

“Yeah.” For the mosthand, he was. “Just gonna take some time to... think ‘n stuff. By the way,” Rin peeked back in. “You’re not against this, right? Me loving Suguro?”

“No, never.” They both spoke at once. Even if they were, there was little to be done with it. Love can’t be dictated, neither can someone be forced out of love.

“Okay, good. I’m relieved you two approve. Night.”

When Rin’s footsteps in the hallway dimmed, Shima and Koneko turned to each other excitedly. 

Shima broke out into laughter. “This has gotta the most adorable thing that’s ever happened!!” He grabbed fistfuls of his pink hair. “Okumura loves Bon back! Ahh, they’re in love~!”

“I was so tempted to tell him…” Koneko sniffed, the telltale signs he was tearing up. He pushed his glasses upwards and wiped at his eyes. 

“Hey hey, Neko, don’t cry! Oh, Bon, you’re in for a shock~” Shima smiled to himself.

 

 

* * *

  


 

Rin and Suguro stayed after school to study today. Or at least, that was the intention.

The heating had been blown full blast because of the biting cold, so the classroom was toastier than usual. As most students would experience, warm rooms increased sleepiness and it was no surprise that Rin fell victim to the urge.

He was slouched forward with his arms folded across the desk, his head resting over them. Rin was part of the way into a good nap, softly snoring. Beside him, Suguro continued to work, powering through the homework set by his subject teachers. He stopped for a moment, placing his pen in the middle of the double-page spread. One glance at Rin and he couldn’t quite pick up his pen again. 

If Suguro usually caught Rin snoozing when he should be studying, he’d whack him awake with the nearest textbook. This time, however, he left Rin in peace.

Rin looked tranquil and _god,_ more beautiful when asleep. His face was relaxed, a look of innocence. A streak of saliva dripped from his mouth and pooled on his blazer sleeve. 

Suguro could not resist running a hand through Rin’s hair. Fluffy, yet messy as usual. The silver hair clip was there, the same one Suguro gifted him in the first few weeks of school. It suited him. The fact that Rin cherished the clip so much that he’d wear it to school and every time he needed to study was flattering. He knotted his fingers in amongst the blue locks. Rin did not stir, so much as flinch from the touch. _He really is sound asleep in only a few minutes…_

He slid his other hand across the table, interlocking his fingers with Rin’s. Was he really deserving of such a loving, caring guy like Rin? If said guy was awake right now, he’d be caressing Suguro to no end, showering him with affection. Fretting over each other in their alone time was something they subconsciously fell into, in the best interests of looking out for one another. It was easy to tell what Rin was thinking since he wore his heart on his sleeve. Suguro kept his half-hidden, but Rin became better at reading his emotions and picking up any changes in them. If it was subtle before, it was now clear as day. If Rin was awake right now, he’d see Suguro’s current prolonged gazing upon him and know that meant he wanted to say something. Something that might be the most difficult three words he’d ever needed to utter to Rin. It shouldn’t be, but in reality it is.

Suguro brushed a few strands of Rin’s bangs to the side and then pressed his lips to Rin’s forehead. Rin remained undisturbed to the affection.

He delivered a few more kisses before being interrupted by the vibration of his phone in his pocket. _It’s probably Master._ He hastily fished the device out, not wanting to leave the person waiting.

**_17:41 from Kamiki_ **

“ _Kamiki?_ Why is she-?”

_It hurts, doesn’t it?_

Suguro stared blankly at the screen. Of all classmates, _Izumo_ would be the last one to ever text him. He had her number saved for mission reasons but so far, neither had messaged them privately. So why now?

And why was she texting him about this?

**_17:41 to Kamiki_ **

_How do you know?_

**_17:41 from Kamiki_ **

_I can tell by the fawned looks and the way you’re kissing him_

_Is she watching me?!_ Suguro glanced up and his eyes fell on the purple-haired tamer in question, leaning against the door with her arms and legs casually crossed and her phone in hand. Small charms dangled from the corner of her phone. She only gave a small nod when he noticed her. Prying herself off the door, Izumo adjusted her bag and continued her walk down the corridor. 

**_17:42 from Kamiki_ **

_Don’t worry, I wasn’t stalking you or anything. I was just passing by and happened to see you kissing his head._

**_17:43 to Kamiki_ **

_What are you still doing in school?_

**_17:43 from Kamiki_ **

_Was retaking a test._

**_17:43 from Kamiki_ **

_Anyway, for the record, I’ve never really cared about you two being together. I’m just here texting out of the blue because I know what you’re going through._

The first part was obvious enough. Izumo hadn’t ever given the time of day when Suguro began going out with Rin, neither did he expect her to.

The second part, though, was a different question. Suguro seemed to be the only one who picked up on Izumo’s secret and unrequited crush on Rin. It was barely noticeable -  and credit to her for being the only person able to keep her crushing on the low-down. Although, the only reason why he could pick up on it may be because they both handled their crushes on Rin in similar manners. She’d act cold but blushy to Rin, as did he, whilst keeping friendly terms.

He’d forgotten about her little secret until now.

Back in their mini-tour around Kyoto after the Impure King mission, he’d remembered Izumo distinctly saying “Love isn’t dictated by logic or reason.”

Now it made sense why she’d said that.

**_17:44 to Kamiki_ **

_For the record, Kamiki, Okumura’s with ME. Regardless of whether your feelings for him are still there or not, nothing’s going to change about the fact that we’re still together._

_Oh and don’t worry, I haven’t told Okumura about that. He’s not gonna know unless you decide to tell him._

**_17:45 from Kamiki_ **

_Look, I don’t know how the hell you know about that but I’m not gonna act on it. I already know what the answer’s gonna be. And I’ve accepted that_

**_17:45 from Kamiki_ **

_Plus, I can’t compete with someone like you. Tbh you’re better for him._

**_17:46 from Kamiki_ **

_I’m kinda over it anyway. Thanks for keeping it a secret from him. The last thing I want is for him to know._

**_17:46 from Kamiki_ **

_I know because I acted similar with Okumura. When I started liking him._

_But aren’t you bitter? Like, at all?_

**_17:47 from Kamiki_ **

_No, not really. I accepted it for a while now. I like you two idiots together. So I don’t want to have that changed because of me. And it’s not like I could change it anyway, cause you seem to have got it pretty bad_

This was probably why she was texting her opinion instead of saying it out loud. Izumo would rather die than say this in the open. She’d probably delete the messages right after this chat. Either way, this was a conversation they needed to have at some stage, in light him knowing how she felt - or once felt - for his boyfriend.

**_17:47 to Kamiki_ **

_Thank you._

_I have it bad?_

**_17:48 from Kamiki_ **

_Yeah, I can tell._

**_17:48 from Kamiki_ **

_Whatever you do, please don’t confess to him in the middle of class, gorilla. That’s like the most unromantic thing imaginable. Find someplace private, like that school fountain. Make sure you have his attention, tell him beforehand that you need a moment of his time and that it’s important. And don’t be stuttery the whole way through. Nothing kills the mood more than nerves._

Suguro set his phone down, locking the screen. After studying Rin for a minute, he found himself wrapping his arms around the sleeping boy, resting his head against Rin’s. He tightened his hold on Rin, closing his eyes too.

 _Damn, I_ **_really_ ** _have it bad for Okumura._

“Nn… Suguro..?” Rin mumbled, moving his head. “Something up?” Suguro pulled away a little, but still kept his arms around the shorter exwire. He must have sensed how tightly he was holding him.

“I…” He wanted to say he was fine, but that wasn’t the case. “Okumura, I need to tell you somethin’ important.” He croaked. “B-but I can’t really do it right now, I’m not prepared.”

The same level of fear resonated in Rin’s eyes. “To tell you the truth... there’s something I need t’ tell you too, but I can’t right now, either. For the same reason.” Rin pressed the middle button on Suguro’s phone to check the time. “Damn, it’s getting late. We should head back before we get locked in for the night.” Suguro nodded, letting go of Rin so they can pack their books and stationery away.

Noises of shuffling and bag zipping filled the air as they both stayed silent, dwelling on what the other wanted to say and what they needed to say, too. “I promise I’ll tell you one day. Promise me you will, too?” Rin stuck his pinky out.

It was juvenile, but he did it anyway. Suguro connected his pinky with Rin’s, sealing the deal.

“Yes, I promise.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust a philophobic single girl to write about the process of falling in love :'D I'd say "I'm sorry if I got it wrong" but tbh there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way of love. Every couple experiences it differently, every couple shows it differently.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Trivia: I was actually going to cut out the Izumo part but ended up keeping it in anyway.  
> I hope it wasn't too angsty. Especially since most things have been more light-hearted/happy up till now.
> 
> My plan is to get the next (aka final!) chapter up on 27th June which happens to be the one year anniversary since posting this fic! Woop woop~ It's two days after my final exam so let's be hopeful I get everything done in time! Till then, take care everyone! Best of luck to any other students taking exams now or in the summer. I feel the pain & stress on a spiritual level haha...


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